A whole new world
by Rachelmasonfan25
Summary: Rachel has to face her biggest challenge yet- watching her daughter leave home.
1. Chapter 1

Thought of this idea and just really wanted to write it, even though I know I haven't done many chapters of my other story yet. Hope you enjoy!

Rachel Mason was stood in her kitchen making tea for her three daughters and husband.

Everyone else was elsewhere in the house doing their own thing and Rachel was quite enjoying the peace and quiet for the time being.

She'd just put the pasta onto cook when her husband, Chris walked in with a hammer in his hand.

"Someone's not looking too happy" Rachel commented after seeing the scowl on his husband's face

"You wouldn't be either if you'd just spent the best part of an hour trying to put a mirror onto the wall, how anyone is supposed to follow those bloody instructions is beyond me"

Rachel had a man coming in on Friday to do a few jobs around the house, Chris never had been much good at DIY.

Chris, however, was trying to prove a point that he was capable of doing jobs like this.

Rachel didn't say anything, but came over and wrapped her arms around her husband from behind.

It didn't take long for them to start kissing however this was soon interrupted by Ellie, Rachel and Chris's youngest daughter who was 11.

"Can't you go to your bedroom if you're going to do that"

"We were only kissing, it's hardly a crime"

"Whatever" Ellie said causing Rachel to roll her eyes, she seemed to have developed a bit of an attitude recently

"How long before tea? I'm starving"

"10 minutes so you can lay the table"

"Why me? Why can't you get Amy or Chloe to do it for you?"

"Because you're here"

"Fine" Ellie sighed before laying the kitchen table up

Tea was soon ready to Rachel called the other two girls down.

Chloe, who was 15, came down and sat next to Ellie at the table.

After a few minutes Rachel was wondering where her 18 year old daughter Amy was.

"Do you know if Amy heard me shout?" Rachel asked Chloe

"Not sure"

"I'll go and check on her then"

Rachel went up to Amy's bedroom and saw her sat on her bed on her laptop.

"Did you not hear me shout you down for tea?"

"Yes but I'm really not hungry Mum"

Rachel sighed before sitting on the bed next to Amy. It was A level results day tomorrow and Rachel knew how worried Amy was about it.

"I know you're worried about tomorrow love, but you still need to eat. Come and sit with us"

Amy knew her Mum wouldn't go anywhere until she came down so in the end she followed Rachel down.

"Mum is it okay if I stay round Georgia's house tonight?"

"No I need you to stay here with Ellie tomorrow morning, me and Amy are both going into school"

"Why?"

"Results day" Amy said giving her sister a look

"I've already told Georgia I could come though"

"How many times have I told you to ask me first? Why don't you just ask Georgia to stay at ours though?"

"I guess I could"

Amy had a few mouthfuls of her pasta but she was struggling to eat anymore, the thought of tomorrow was making her feel extremely sick.

Everyone else had finished eating except from Amy who was just playing with her food.

"Mum I really can't eat anymore"

"Okay that's fine, put your plates in the dishwasher girls and I'll do the rest"

Rachel and Chris cleared the kitchen up and then Rachel went up to see Amy.

"Do you want me run you a bath sweetheart?" Rachel asked leaning against Amy's door frame

"That would be nice if you don't mind"

"Of course, it's no trouble at all"

Rachel went into the bathroom and ran a bath for her eldest daughter.

"Amy your bath's run"

When she came in Rachel had lit lots of candles and put loads of bubbles in, she wanted to make her daughter feel as calm and relaxed as she possibly could.

"Thanks Mum"

"No problem, I'll leave you to it"

Rachel left so Amy got undressed and then climbed into the bath.

No matter what she did she couldn't take her mind off tomorrow.

Amy had worked really hard for her A levels but she'd found a lot of her exams really hard so she was so worried about the grades she was going to get.

She needed two A's and a B to get into York University to study maths so she really hoped she'd get that.

Amy had brought her book into the bathroom with her so she started reading it but she wasn't taking any of it in and had to keep re-reading sentences so in the end she just gave up.

After having a soak in the bath Amy got out of the bath and wrapped a towel around herself before going back to her bedroom.

She found Chloe and Georgia in her room going through her makeup.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"We wanted to borrow your naked palette"

"How many times do I have to tell you to ask before you take my stuff"

"Sorry, can we use it though?"

"Yes fine"

Chloe and Georgia quickly left so Amy got into her pyjamas and then went downstairs.

Ellie and her Mum and Dad were down there watching The Great British Bake Off so she sat down with them. She just wished she could get rid of the butterflies she had in her stomach.

"I'm going to go up to bed" Amy said once it had finished

"Okay love, see you in the morning. Are you still driving to school in the morning with your friends?"

"No I think I'll ride in with you now"

"How come? I've already told you I'm not letting you open them early"

"I know I just want to stay with you that's all"

"Okay well I'm going to leave at about twenty past eight"

They weren't letting the pupils in until 9 but Rachel was going in for 8:30.

Amy went up to her bedroom and switched her laptop on and then sat on her bed on it.

She was looking up anything she could to do with results day, she just couldn't get her mind off tomorrow.

When Rachel and Chris came up to bed a couple of hours later Rachel saw Amy's bedroom light was still on so decided to go in and check on her.

"Are you going to sleep soon love?"

"Yeah I think I will now"

"See you in the morning, and just remember whatever your results tomorrow everything will work out"

Amy didn't say anything but she gave her Mum a weak smile.

"Night night"

Once her Mum had left Amy switched her laptop and lamp off but she continued texting one of her best friends for a while who was equally as worried about it as she was.

In the end Amy decided to try and get to sleep so she put her phone on her bedside cabinet before lying down.

She kept tossing and turning, she just couldn't seem to get to sleep.

In the end Amy decided to go downstairs, she hated lying in bed when she couldn't sleep so she grabbed her dressing gown before making her way downstairs.

Rachel had woken up at this point and she heard someone going down the stairs so she decided to check to see who it was out of bed.

Rachel left her snoring husband and went downstairs.

She saw the kitchen light was on so went in there where she found Amy making herself some toast.

"What you doing making toast at this time of night?"

"I can't sleep"

"Sit down love I'll make that for you"

Amy sat down on a kitchen chair and brought her knees up to her chest.

She just wanted to get tomorrow out of the way with, but she couldn't help but dread the result.

Rachel finished making her piece of toast before bringing it over and sitting down with her daughter.

"You know you're going to be absolutely fine tomorrow don't you?"

"You can't say that because you don't know"

"Well I know how hard you worked and to me that's all that matters, I wouldn't care if you failed as long as you tried your best"

"I just want to go to Uni so badly Mum"

"I know you do and I'm sure you'll get there"

Amy didn't really know why she'd bothered to make a piece of toast because she couldn't eat it, she'd just felt like doing something.

The two of them chatted for a bit longer and then they went back to bed.

Amy got into bed and this time she did eventually manage to drop off but she was awake again by 6.

The first thing she did was open up her laptop to see if she could find out if she'd got into Uni yet or not. She knew it wasn't meant to be updated until 8 but she hoped.

She got onto the website but it wasn't letting her log onto track yet.

Amy was lying in bed feeling incredibly sick.

Eventually she was able to login but when she tried it was saying her password was wrong.

She was sure that was it but she tried loads of times and it wasn't letting her on.

Amy started searching her bedroom for the piece of paper she'd written the details on but she couldn't find it anywhere.

Rachel could hear her rumbling around in her bedroom so went to see what was going on.

"What's going on in here?"

"I can't remember my password and I've lost the piece of paper I wrote it down on"

"Password for what?"

"To get onto UCAS"

"It must be here somewhere"

"It's not I've looked everywhere"

"I'll help you look"

The two of them spent ages looking for it but they couldn't find it anywhere.

"You're just going to have to wait until we get into school"

"Can we go in now then?"

"No it won't be unlocked yet, besides I've already told you I can't let you open your results earlier than everyone else it wouldn't be fair"

"Mum please, everyone else will be able to go onto track"

"But I can't treat you any differently because you're my daughter, if it was anyone else they wouldn't be able to open them early would they?"

Amy burst into tears so Rachel rushed over to her and wrapped her arms around her.

"Come on sweetheart don't cry, not much longer to wait now"

"I just want to know Mum"

"I know you do"

The two of them got ready and then left.

When they left the other girls were all still sleeping so Rachel left them a note, even though they knew where Rachel and Amy would be.

They got into the car and started the familiar drive to Waterloo Road.

Amy knew it was hardly any time to wait now but it seemed to be dragging.

When they got into school the head of sixth form was there as well as a few other teachers.

Amy could see all of the envelopes laid out, she just wanted to go over and pick hers up but she knew she couldn't.

The longer Amy sat there the sicker she felt, and suddenly she realised she actually was going to be sick so darted to the girls toilets.

Rachel had been over talking to Kim when she saw her daughter so quickly followed her.

She got into the toilets and saw her daughter throwing up as Amy hadn't had time to shut the door behind her.

Rachel went over and rubbed her back while Amy continued to be sick.

She did feel extremely sorry for her daughter getting herself so worked up over this.

Once she'd finished she went out and washed her hand before giving Rachel a big hug.

"Let's go and open up your envelope love"

"But it's not 9 yet"

"I know but I'm not having you worrying like this any longer, it's not that long anyway"

When they got back into the common room the head of sixth form said they were going to start letting people in now anyway and went and opened the main door.

Now that it was actually time to open the envelope Amy wasn't so sure she wanted to do it.

"Mum I can't open it" Amy said with shaking hands

"Yes you can love"

"You do it"

"No there your results you should do it"

Slowly Amy opened up the envelope and took the piece of paper out but she couldn't bring herself to look.

Eventually she opened up the piece of paper and relief flooded through her when she saw she'd got 3 As.

A huge smile spread across her face as she passed her results to Rachel.

"That means I'm in Mum"

"Well done darling, I'm so proud of you" Rachel said as she wrapped her arms around her daughter

Amy could breathe properly again now although she was still shaking.

"I'm going to ring Dad"

"Good idea"

Amy got her phone out and rang her Dad who was over the moon just like Rachel had been.

A few other students had come in now looking very worried.

Amy saw Molly, one of her best friends, walk in so rushed over to her.

"Do you know?" Molly asked

"Yes I'm in, I got 3 As, what about you?"

"Well I'm into my insurance but not my firm choice"

The girls both had York down as their first choice but now that Molly hadn't got in it meant that she'd be going to Leicester.

"That's still really good, you really liked it in Leicester too"

"I know" Molly said as she picked up her envelope

She opened it up and saw she'd go an A and 2 Bs.

She was still really pleased she just wished she could've got her second A so she could've got into York.

There was a lovely atmosphere in the common room with a lot of people receiving grades they were hoping to and getting to Uni.

There were a few people who had missed out on Uni places but the teachers were all really supportive and by the end of the morning everyone who had wanted to go to Uni had got in either to their firm or insurance choices or though clearing.

Amy had stayed there for the whole morning with her Mum.

When it was time for them to leave they went home again to see Chloe and Ellie.

Both girls were in the lounge watching TV when they got in.

"How did you do?" Chloe asked

"I got 3As so I got into York"

"Well done"

"Yeah well done Amy" Ellie added

"Thank you"

Amy said smiling

Right now she felt so happy, she couldn't believe that she was actually going to Uni.

For all of this time she was hoping she'd get in, but now it all felt so real. She was actually going.

Although Rachel was so happy for her daughter, she couldn't help but feel a little bit sad because in just over a month her daughter would be leaving home and Rachel really wasn't looking forward to not having her around all the time.

"I've just had a text from your Dad saying he's booked us a table to go out"

"But I'm going out tonight Mum" Amy said

"I know you are, that's why he's booked it for half past 5, Mel's coming with Philip and Ruby too"

"Okay Molly's having pre-drinks at hers, so can you drop me round there after the meal?"

"Yes of course"

The rest of the day went by quickly and it was soon time to start getting ready to go out.

Amy wasn't really sure what to wear but in the end she decided to wear a black playsuit.

Rachel went round to the girls bedrooms telling them they were leaving in 5 minutes.

She was shocked when she got into Ellie's bedroom and saw she still only had her towel on with wet hair.

"Ellie we're leaving in 5 minutes"

"Sorry I completely lost track of time"

"I must've shouted about 10 times to make sure you were all getting ready" Rachel sighed

"I won't be long"

"Your hairs still soaking and you're not even dressed yet, please be quick Ellie"

"I will I'll get dressed as soon as you go out"

"Okay I'm leaving"

Rachel left so Ellie quickly put on some clothes before drying her hair.

She was lucky that she could go out without doing anything to her hair and it would still look really nice naturally.

She quickly put on a little bit of mascara before going downstairs.

Everyone was already waiting for her so as soon as she was down they got into the car and drove to the restaurant.

Chris had booked one of Amy's favourite Italian restaurants.

When they got there Rachel was unsurprised to see that Mel wasn't there yet, she never was one for being on time.

They waited in the car park for them to come and about 5 minutes later they showed up.

"Sorry we're late, but Ruby decided she needed to go to the toilet just as we were talking out the door, otherwise we would've been on time"

"That would've been a first" Rachel said

"Anyway, congratulations on your results Amy"

"Thank you"

"You must be so pleased"

"I am, it hasn't really sunk in that I'm actually going to Uni yet"

"I bet you can't wait"

"No" Amy said smiling

Ruby, Rachel's 5 year old niece, took hold of Rachel's hand, she always loved being around her Auntie.

"Auntie Rachel how long is it until I come and stay with you now?"

"1 week, not long to wait now"

Mel was going on holiday with her friends.

She didn't mind having Ruby and Phil to stay at all, she just thought it was unfair that Mel wasn't taking them on holiday considering she was going herself.

They went inside and had a nice meal celebrating Amy's fantastic results and then Amy went out with her friends and had a great night considering they'd all got into Uni.

 **Hope you guys like it, hoping to update the next chapter tomorrow sometime** **Also can't remember if I'd said how old they are, so Ellie's 11, Chloe's 15 and Amy's 18.**


	2. Chapter 2

It was the next day and Rachel was pottering about the house doing various jobs.

Ellie and Chloe were still sleeping, Amy had stayed at her friends house after going out last night and Chris had gone to work.

Rachel had just finished mopping the kitchen floor when Ellie came downstairs looking sleepy.

"Morning love did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah good thanks"

"Don't go in the kitchen because I've just mopped the floor"

"But I was going to get some breakfast"

"Well give me 20 minutes and I was going to make pancakes for you all"

"Okay"

Rachel went upstairs to do her hair and makeup so Ellie went and put the TV on in the lounge.

Once Rachel was ready she decided to wake Chloe up, deciding she'd been asleep for plenty long enough now.

"Time to wake up"

"Mum go away I'm trying to sleep"

"There's no point in sleeping the day away"

"It's my summer I should be able to do what I want"

"I'm going to make pancakes now, they'll be ready in 10 minutes"

"Fine I'll be down in a minute"

Rachel went downstairs and made the pancake mixture and then shouted the girls through when she started cooking them.

Chloe and Ellie sat up at the breakfast bar.

"Mum what are we doing today?" Ellie asked

"Well Amy wanted to go shopping to get stuff ready for when she goes to University so you two can come when we do that if you like and go off shopping together"

"That sounds good"

Once they'd had their pancakes and cleared up Ellie and Chloe went upstairs to get ready.

Not long after Rachel heard Amy come in the front door to see her.

"Hi love I thought I was meant to be picking you up at 11"

"I know but I decided to walk home, I'm just going to go and jump in the shower"

"Okay sweetheart, do you still want to go shopping today?"

"Yes please" Amy replied however she didn't have the same excitement about it as what she'd had yesterday

Rachel could tell there was something up with her daughter so decided to go up and have a chat with her once she'd had her shower. She always could tell when there was something bothering her daughter, it was so much easier to tell with her than with Chloe and Ellie.

Amy went into her en suite and got into the shower.

She'd been so happy yesterday but now her friends had made her feel like crap. She hated the way they'd spoken to her about the things she'd done last night.

She knew she'd got extremely drunk and had ended up passing out in the club but in her opinion it was meant to be a celebration and she was only having a bit of her fun.

When she got back into her bedroom after her shower Amy checked her phone and saw she had a message from Molly.

Tears started to fill Amy's eyes when she read it. Molly had told her that she couldn't believe the way she'd been last night and that she was being completely inappropriate.

Although Molly was Amy's best friend, Amy did hate the way that Molly would often think Amy was in the wrong after a night out.

Molly was quite a sensible girl and didn't really let her hair down at all, Amy just didn't see the point in not having fun.

Amy was feeling quite hungover and really wasn't in the mood for talking to Molly right now so completely ignored her message and got changed.

Amy was drying her hair with tears rolling down her cheeks when Rachel came into her bedroom.

She quickly wiped them away when she saw Rachel.

Rachel walked over and took the hair drier off Amy and started drying her hair for her.

As she ran her hands through het daughter's long brown hair it reminded her of all the times she used to do this when she was little.

"Thanks Mum" Amy said once Rachel had finished

Amy stood up and turned around to face her Mum.

She couldn't help the tears that were starting to fill her eyes again.

"What's happened darling?"

"Nothing I'm fine"

"I don't think you are, come on tell me what's wrong, let's sit down"

Molly and Rachel both sat down on her bed.

"it's just Molly and a few others saying stuff"

"Saying stuff about me last night"

"Why what happened last night?"

"Apparently I was acting inappropriately, and Molly said I was being too forward with James but I'm sure I wasn't"

"Why what were you trying to do?"

"She said I kept touching him and dancing with him but I was dancing with everyone, I don't see the big deal"

"I'm sure she'll calm down in a minute, I know you'd never try and do anything with her boyfriend and I'm sure she does too really"

"Why is it always me who gets the worst and completely shows myself up"

"Oh love, I'm sure everyone feels like that after a night out once in a while"

"But I feel like it's always me and everyone knows it"

"There's nothing wrong with going out and having a bit of fun, as long as you don't get completely out of it so you don't know what's going on"

"I know" Amy said but really she knew there'd been several occasions where she could've ended up going along with anything because she was so drunk but she wasn't about to admit this to her Mum.

"So what should I say to Molly?"

"Just apologise and say you'd never try to do anything with James"

"Okay"

"Are you feeling a bit happier now?"

"I guess"

Amy could talk to Rachel about just about anything and she knew she was going to miss having her Mum there to talk to whenever she needed her.

"Shall we leave to go in about an hour then?"

"Yeah sounds good, I can't wait to get everything"

Rachel left so Amy got her phone to text Molly.

If she was being honest she felt quite angry with Molly for making out like she was trying to get with her boyfriend, but she didn't feel like getting into an argument in the last month before they went off to Uni.

So instead she sent her a text apologising like her Mum had said and then tried to forget all about it.

Once everyone was ready they drove to the shops.

Before they started they decided to go for a bit of lunch as everyone was feeling quite hungry so they went to Bella Italia as everyone liked it in there.

Once they'd finished eating Ellie and Chloe went off together so Rachel and Amy headed to Next as the first thing she wanted to choose was some new bedding.

She'd found out what accommodation she was going to be staying in today.

It wasn't her first choice which meant she didn't have a double bed but it was still self-catered and en suite so she was still pleased.

Amy picked out some nice white bedding for her room but Rachel wasn't keen on her getting this as she thought she would be better off with a darker colour so it didn't know up the dirt so much. After all she didn't know how often Amy was going to end up washing it.

In the end Amy chose a nice pink and brown quilt cover. They got a few other accessories for her bedroom too but Rachel didn't want to buy everything in Next as it was expensive in there and she didn't see the point in spending out too much money.

Meanwhile Chloe and Ellie were looking around New Look.

They'd both picked up quite a few things that they wanted to try on and now they were heading to the underwear section as Chloe needed a new black bra as her other one was getting a bit too small.

Ellie felt a bit awkward being in that section but when Chloe looked over she noticed that Ellie had walked off and was looking at some of the smaller sized bras.

Chloe walked over to her sister and put her hand on her back.

"What you looking at these for"

"I was only looking" Ellie said as her cheeks burned bright red

"Alright keep your hair on I was only asking, do you want one?"

"Don't you think Mum would go mad if I bought one without even asking her?"

"I think you should go with Mum to get your first bra, she'll want to make sure you get one that actually fits"

"But if I ask Mum she'll say I don't need one" Ellie sighed

She wore crop tops at the minute but she hadn't really starting developing much lately and was still quite flat chested.

"She'll get you one if you want one, she understands you're at that age now. Just ask her"

"Fine I'll ask her when we get home" Ellie said feeling quite disappointed now she was here she really wanted to get one

"You'd just as well ask her while we're here then you can get one today"

"I'm not going bra shopping with you, Mum and Amy that would be so embarrassing"

"Well you can just go off with Mum then"

"I'll see"

After a couple of hours Chloe and Ellie met back up with Rachel and Amy.

"Did you not buy anything?" Chloe asked noticing they didn't have any bags

"Yeah we just got about everything" Amy said bubbly "but we put it all back in the car to save having to carry it round"

"I see you girls have bought lots" Rachel said looking at all the bags of shopping in their hands

"We saw loads of nice things"

"Hopefully all that I'll approve of" Rachel said raising her eyebrows at Chloe knowing it was likely this wouldn't be the case. Chloe had a tendency to buy clothes that didn't cover her up nearly enough in Rachel's eyes

"Of course" Chloe said giving her Mum a cheeky smile

"Anyway what do you girls all want to do now? Do you want to do a bit more shopping or go for coffee or go home?"

"Well Ellie wants to go shopping with you for a bit just the two of you"

"How come?"

"She just does, and I want Amy to see a dress I want to get for my party next weekend"

"Ok well shall we meet in Costa in half an hour?"

"Yep sounds good"

Ellie left with her Mum but she felt a bit nervous about having to ask now.

"So what is it you want to get?"

"Well when me and Chloe were in New Look I saw this really nice bra and I kind of want to buy it" Ellie said speaking extremely quickly and looking very embarrassed

Rachel picked up on how embarrassed she seemed to be but didn't comment on it knowing this would only make it worse.

"If you want to get some bras that's fine love, but I think we should get them from somewhere that do better quality ones"

"But the ones in New Look were really pretty"

"Yeah and they'll fall apart in no time, we'll go to M&S and get you measured properly"

"There's no way I'm doing that Mum"

"Well it's important to have a bra that fits properly"

"I know but I'm not having some stranger see me naked"

"You wouldn't be naked, she'd measure you with your crop top on but if you really don't want to then you'll just have to put up with me making sure they fit"

Ellie wasn't keen on this idea really but it was better than having to be measured in M&S so reluctantly agreed.

Once Ellie had bought a few bras Rachel decided to get some new underwear for herself while they were there and then they headed to Costa.

There was no sign of Chloe and Amy yet but by the time Rachel and Ellie had been in the queue for a few minutes they came in.

"Hi girls, do you want to choose what you want and me and Ellie will go and sit down" Rachel said passing a £20 note to Amy "I'll have a cappuccino and Ellie wants a chocolate muffin and an iced lemonade"

Rachel and Ellie went and found a table and they were soon joined by Amy and Chloe.

"So did you get the dress"

"Yeah" Chloe said, she hadn't actually been planning on showing Amy a dress but while they were in the shops she happened to find a dress she really liked that she thought would look really good at her party next weekend.

"I'll be looking at everything you bought when we get home, and if there's anything I think is inappropriate it will be going back"

"You always say that" Chloe said rolling her eyes

After they'd finished in Costa they were all feeling pretty tired so decided to go home.

Rachel drove home and parked up on the drive and then they all brought their shopping in. There was a lot of it!

Ellie and Chloe both took all of their stuff up to their rooms and Rachel and Amy took all of her Uni stuff up to the spare room as she was planning on keeping it in there until she left.

Amy laid it all out on the bed.

She couldn't believe it was all hers for when she moved out, she really was so excited about it all now.

Once Amy and Rachel had sorted all of the stuff out Rachel went across to Chloe's bedroom to have a look at what she'd bought.

"Let's see what you got then"

"I've already put it away now"

"Basically what you mean is you don't want me to see until you're worn it and taken the labels so I can't make you take it off"

"No I'll show you if you really want to see"

"Yes I do actually"

Chloe went over to her wardrobe and picked out the black, bodycon dress that she had bought for her party at the weekend.

Rachel just gave Chloe a disapproving look as she held up the dress.

"What's wrong with it?"

"That's way too short, they're no way you're going out wearing that young lady"

"It's actually not as short as it looks"

"I want to see it on then" Rachel said because by the look of the dress it was not something she was going to feel happy about her daughter

Chloe faced away from her Mum and got changed into the dress.

When she turned again Rachel was actually quite surprised, she was expecting for it to be a lot shorter and tighter.

"Well?"

"It's very short" Rachel said although she actually realised it was as good a length she was going to get with Chloe

"I've seen pictures from when you were my age and you're skirts used to be as short as this if not shorter so you can't exactly say much"

"It's not as bad as I was expecting"

"So I can keep it?"

"Yes, it does make you look incredibly grown up in it though"

"I am 15 Mum"

"Exactly, you're not 20"

Chloe showed Rachel the other things she'd bought which Rachel actually really liked and thought suited her daughter well.

She stayed and chatted with Chloe for a bit before going into see Ellie who was watching youtube videos on her Ipad.

Rachel went and sat on the bed next to her and started talking.

Ellie sighed heavily before pausing her video.

"I'm ever so sorry for disturbing you" Rachel said sarcastically

"I was just getting into it"

"I was just in with Chloe and she said you didn't want to ask me about getting a bra today because you thought I'd say no"

Ellie's cheeks started to turn red when she heard her Mum say this.

"Well I thought you'd say I don't need one, I'm still quite flat chested aren't I?" Ellie said feeling her cheeks getting hotter and hotter

"You haven't developed much yet I know, but you're definitely starting to. And anyway I think you're at that age where you're bound to want to wear one I'm sure a lot of your friends are now aren't they?"

"Yeah"

"I know you're finding this whole growing up thing a bit embarrassing but just remember I've been through it myself and I've been through it with Amy and Chloe so any questions you've got or anything you want to talk about just pull me aside and speak to me about it"

"Yes Mum I know"

"I'll stop talking about it now, but if you are worried then do just come and find me, hm?"

"Yes I will"

"Good girl, anyway I'll leave you to get back to your video"

Rachel left and went downstairs.

She looked at the clock and saw it was about time she was getting on with tea.

Rachel had promised Ellie they could have sweet and sour chicken, one of her favourites.

Rachel got everything ready and it wasn't long before Chris was home from work.

He came over and wrapped his arms around his wife.

Rachel still always did love it when Chris came in from work. Although it wasn't the same as when the girls were young and they'd run up to him too the minute he walked through the front door.

Chris went upstairs to get changed out of his work clothes and then came back down again.

"Can you get the deep fat fryer out and cook the chicken balls for me please?"

"Why me?" Chris said but he was only teasing

"I've done everything else all you have to do is cook the chicken so I don't get all messy"

While Chris cooked the chicken Rachel did the rice and once it was ready she called the girls down.

They all sat around the table to eat their tea, all joking and laughing.

It was unusual for everyone to be in such a good mood, normally there was at least one person who wasn't very happy about something.

Rachel started to feel quite sad when she realised it wouldn't be long before they wouldn't all be eating around the same table every night. Amy would be nearly two hours away from them in the car.

After tea the girls offered to clear up so Rachel poured a glass of wine for herself and Chris and went into the lounge.

Rachel leaned in against Chris so he put his arm around her.

"You okay? You've gone a bit quiet"

"Yeah I just can't stop thinking about Amy going, it all seems so real now" Rachel said with tears forming in her eyes. She was feeling really emotional about Amy leaving.

"I know but you'll get to see her, she'll come home for weekends and stuff and students get loads of holiday"

"It won't be the same" Rachel said letting a tear roll down her cheek

"Oh Rach don't cry. I know it will be hard at first but we'll soon adjust"

"I know"

Once the girls had finished clearing up Chloe and Ellie came and sat in the lounge. Rachel had heard them coming so hastily wiped away her tears.

Amy helped herself to a glass of wine before coming in too. As soon as she sat down she saw that her Mum had been crying.

"Mum what's wrong?"

"Nothing love I'm fine"

"I can tell you've been crying"

"Your Mum's just a bit upset about you leaving"

"Aren't you happy for me?" Amy asked suddenly realising she'd been so excited about the whole thing she hadn't thought about how much her family would miss her

"Of course I am darling, I've just got mixed emotions. Obviously I'm over the moon that you've got into the University you wanted to go to and you're so excited about it but I am going to miss you"

Amy put her glass of wine on the coffee table and then went over and snuggled up next to her Mum.

"I'll miss you too you know" Amy said looking up at her Mum

"Yeah when you've got no food and none of your clothes are clean, I'm sure you'll miss me then"

"Not just then"

"I just hope that you have a fantastic time and you're not disappointed by it"

"I hope not too"

Amy gave her Mum a big cuddle before going back to join her sisters on the other sofa.

Rachel flicked through the channels and they all decided on EastEnders.

It was nice to have a quiet night in as a Friday, it wasn't often that they did this at the weekend.

At about Amy decided to go up to bed.

Her friends all still seemed to be quite off with her which was getting her a bit down again.

She'd had a lovely day but now she was thinking back to last night and wished she hadn't drank so much.

But there was nothing she could do about it now, she just hoped that her friends would understand soon and stop being how they were about the whole thing.

Rachel came up a few minutes later and said goodnight to each of the girls just like she always did.

Despite the fact that Amy was 18 now, Rachel would still come in just before she went to sleep.

Amy liked her Mum doing that though, it wouldn't feel right if she didn't.

"Night love"

"Night Mum"

Rachel saw the expression on Amy's face and noticed she didn't look too happy so sat down on the bed next to her.

"Have you spoken to Molly?"

"Yeah, she said she knew I was just drunk but she still seems kind of off with me just like all of my other friends"

"Give it a few days and it will all be forgotten about, I'm sure"

"I really hope so, I was going to see if anyone fancied going to the cinema tomorrow night but I don't think I fancy it if there going to be like this I'd rather just stop in with you lot"

"Second best are we? Well maybe we're going out tomorrow" Rachel said joking

"You know what I mean"

"Of course I do, I'd just ask them. You lot all get on so well don't let your last month at home be ruined by a night out. Your hardly the first person to do stupid things when you're drunk"

"Exactly that's what I keep saying"

"Just ask them. And Amy you know how proud of you I am don't you?"

"Yes Mum"

"Well I'm just saying because I really am, and I'm not sad about you going to Uni really I'm just going to miss you that's all but as long as you're happy then I am too"

"I am happy Mum, I feel so ready to go now and just start fresh again"

"Well that's all that matters then"

Rachel stayed and talked to Amy for a bit longer before going back down and spending a bit longer with Chris.

"Did you get everything Amy needs for University today?"

"Yeah I think we got just about everything actually, I wasn't expecting to get it all in one trip but Amy knew exactly what she wanted, cost me a flaming fortune mind you"

"No surprises there" Chris said and they both laughed

They went up to bed at about 11.

Rachel changed into her pyjamas and brushed her teeth before climbing into bed next to her husband.

She couldn't believe how fast the time had gone by since they'd brought Amy home from the hospital together.

One minute they were worrying about how much Amy was going to change their lives and now she was leaving home soon ready to start her own life.


	3. Chapter 3

It was the following Saturday and the day that Philip and Ruby were due to arrive to stay at the Mason household for a week whilst their Mum went to Portugal with her friends.

They weren't coming until this afternoon which was lucky as Rachel needed to sort out the spare room that had got all of Amy's stuff in for Uni. It had seemed like a good idea putting it in there out of the way but Rachel had completely forgotten that Phil was going to need to sleep in that room for a week.

"Amy can you come up here a minute love?"

Amy came up from her room to see what it was that her Mum wanted.

"What are you doing in here?"

"We need to sort all of your Uni stuff out because Phil's going to be staying in here from today"

"Why can't he go in the spare room on the middle floor?"

"Ruby's going in there"

"Well can't they both go in there?"

"If you really want to leave your stuff laid out then you'll have to have Ruby in with you, it's not fair to make Phil share with her just so you can't be bothered to put your stuff into bags"

"No it's fine I'll pack if up"

"It won't take us long"

Together Rachel and Amy packed all of her stuff away into big bags and then moved it into Amy's room.

The rest of the morning passed quickly and just before lunch Chris left to go and play golf.

Rachel was sat eating sandwiches with the girls when Mel walked in with Philip and Ruby, she had her own key to the house.

They weren't meant to be coming until 3 so Rachel wondered what they were doing here already.

"How come you're so early"

"I booked to get my nails done before I go so I thought I'd drop them over a bit earlier, besides Ruby's been desperate to come ever since she woke up. She's so excited Rach"

"That's because she's coming for her own holiday at Auntie Rachel's while Mummy jets off into the sun aren't you love?"

"Yes and you said we're going to have loads more fun than Mummy"

"Anyway I haven't got time to stop or I'll miss my appointment. Be good for Auntie Rachel both of you and I'll see you next week. Thanks again for having them Rach"

"No problem"

Mel gave Ruby a big hug and then Philip a slightly awkward and with that she was gone.

If it had been Rachel she'd have been quite upset to be leaving her children for a week but Mel didn't seem at all bothered by it, she could tell she was looking forward to a week without them.

"Have you two eaten?"

"Yeah Mum made us bacon sandwiches before we came"

"Shall we get you up to your rooms then to unpack?"

"Will you help me unpack Auntie Rachel?"

"Of course I will love"

"Come and see my new suitcase"

Rachel followed Ruby out into the hallway and Ruby showed her new Minnie Mouse suitcase to her.

"Wow look at that"

"Mummy bought it for me to bring all of my clothes to your house in"

"Well that was very nice of her wasn't it?"

Rachel took Phil and Ruby upstairs.

"Right Rubes you're going to stay in here" Rachel said opening the door to the spare room on the middle floor "and you go in the one on the top floor Philip"

Phil left leaving Rachel and Ruby to unpack.

Rachel unzipped Ruby's suitcase and started taking all of her things out.

Once they'd put everything away together Rachel realised they'd need to make a trip to Mel's as Mel had forgotten to pack quite a few things.

"Looks like we're going to have to go to your house"

"Why I thought I was staying here all week?"

"You are but Mummy's forgotten lots of your stuff, she hasn't even packed you any knickers"

"Mummy can be very silly sometimes can't she Auntie Rachel"

"She certainly can. So we'll nip back to your house in a minute to pick up your things and then we can just spend the afternoon around here and then tonight me and Uncle Chris thought we could go out for a nice meal as it's your first night here"

"All of us?"

"Yes, well not Chloe because she's going to a party tonight"

"Is she going to a Birthday party?"

"Yes it's one of her friend's party"

"How old are they going to be?"

"She's going to be 15"

"Chloe was 15 ages ago, I remember because we all went to that spa for the day and I had my nails done"

"Yes you did, maybe we could go back again this week"

"Really?"

"I don't see why not, I need mine doing anyway they're not looking too great at the minute. Anyway go and put your wash bag into the bathroom and I'll go and see if Phil needs anything picking up"

Ruby went and put her stuff into the bathroom whilst Rachel went up to the room Phil was staying in.

"I'm just popping back to your house with Ruby, do you want to come too?"

"Why are you going to our house?"

"Your Mum's forgotten to pack a whole load of things for Ruby"

"I'll walk over for her, save you having to go"

"That's a half an hour walk love, it'll take me 10 minutes to drive round. Are you coming?"

"No I'll stop here"

Rachel went and told Amy that she was quickly popping out with Ruby and then the two of them drove round to Mel's.

They lived in a small 3 bedroomed terrace house, quite different to the large detached house that Rachel lived in.

It wasn't in the best neighbourhood either but Rachel knew how much Mel seemed to struggle with managing her money.

Rachel got her key to Mel's house out of her bag and then walked in.

Mel hadn't invited Rachel over for ages and when Rachel stepped into the house she could see why.

The place was a tip, Mel obviously hadn't hoovered or dusted in weeks.

When she walked into the kitchen that was even worse. Dirty dishes everywhere and the rubbish was out all over the side showing Rachel all the junk food she'd been feeding them all.

Rachel tidied up the kitchen as quickly as she could, feeling quite disgusted with how Mel had been living recently. She'd never been like it before but Rachel had to admit something about Mel had changed.

Once it was tidied up Rachel went up to Ruby's bedroom and picked up everything else that she needed with Ruby.

"Have you been having lots of fun with Mummy over the summer holidays?" Rachel asked her niece

"I haven't really seen Mummy, I've been with Phil most of the time"

"Why, where's Mummy been?"

"She's been with Mark"

"Who's Mark?"

"You know the man Mummy's gone on holiday with"

"I thought Mummy was going on holiday with her friends"

"No Mark's taking her on holiday"

Rachel was feeling incredibly angry with her sister, she couldn't believe she'd lied to her and hadn't even thought to mention this Mark guy to her.

Despite how angry Rachel was feeling she knew she couldn't let this on to Ruby so picked up the bag of stuff they'd just got and then the two of them drove home again.

Rachel unpacked the rest of Ruby's stuff and then Ellie said she'd watch a film with her.

Rachel got her phone out and was about to ring Mel, but then she decided not to. If her sister had wanted to tell her about her new man then she would've. Rachel could only hope she hadn't told her because she thought there was something about him that she needed to hide.

Amy and Chloe came down to the kitchen and Rachel saw Amy had her car keys in her hand.

"Are you two off out somewhere?"

"Chloe wanted some of my false eye lashes for tonight but I've just realised I don't have any left so I said I'd take her to buy some. Is there anything you want while we're gone Mum?"

"No I think I've got everything. Are you still coming out for the meal tonight Amy?"

"Yeah I don't have any plans"

"I've just booked a table in Chiquito"

Amy and Chloe went outside and got into Amy's car.

"I still can't believe I've actually agreed to do this if Mum finds out she's going to flip"

"Well she won't find out because we won't let her"

Amy drove to Tesco and parked the car up and then the two of them walked in.

"Right what do you want?"

"A bottle of vodka"

"A bottle of vodka are you serious? Can you not just bring some of those ready mixed cans?"

"No I don't want to, I'm paying for it so can you not just get me what I want?"

"Don't get cheeky with me, I could just walk out of here and buy you nothing" Amy said but then she picked up the bottle of vodka

"Go to the toilet and then meet me by the car, I'll go and get some false eyelashes so Mum doesn't get suspicious"

Once Amy had paid she went back to the car where Chloe was waiting for her.

Amy put the alcohol into the boot and then they drove home again.

When they got there they left the bottle of vodka in the boot but took the false eyelashes in.

"We're home" Amy called as they walked in

"Hi girls did you get them?"

"Yep" Chloe said holding the eyelashes out in front of her

"What times are we going out tonight Mum?" Amy asked

"I've booked the table for 6:30, we can't really go much later because else it will be too late for Ruby so are you okay going round to Georgia's a bit earlier than 7 Chloe?"

"Yeah that's fine"

"Okay I'm just going to walk down to the park with Ruby, I think Ellie's going to come too. Do either of you want to come?"

"I'm fine here" Amy said

"Yeah me too" Chloe said

"We'll only be an hour or so"

About 10 minutes later Rachel left with Ruby and Ellie but Phil had decided to stop at home along with the two older girls.

Amy knew this was one of their only opportunities to bring the vodka in from the boot so left it 5 minutes and then went out to her car.

She brought the bottle of vodka in and gave it to Chloe.

She was just coming up the stairs when she passed Phil.

"What've you got there then?" Phil asked but his eyes had already seen it was a bottle of vodka

"None of your business"

"I can see it's a bottle of vodka"

"Yeah well don't you dare snitch to Rachel, if you do I'll make sure Bolton and Paul make your life at school hell and you don't want that again do you Phil?"

Chloe hadn't meant to be so mean to her cousin, she did really like him and she wouldn't really get Bolton and Paul to turn on him, but there was no way she could let Phil go to Rach about this.

"I wouldn't have done anyway" Phil said sliding past his cousin

"You'd better not" Chloe shouted

Chloe went up to her room and quickly put the bottle into her bag of stuff that she'd packed for Georgia's.

The rests of the afternoon passed quite quickly and it was soon time for everyone to start getting ready. Chris was home by now too.

Rachel took off her makeup and jumped in the shower.

Once she was done she wrapped a towel around her body and her hair, she then brushed her teeth before going into her bedroom.

Rachel was just looking through her wardrobe when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in" Rachel called

Ruby opened the door and walked into her Auntie's bedroom.

She loved it in here, it was so pretty and she had so many photos everywhere, there were even lots of Ruby.

"What can I do for you Miss Ruby?"

"Auntie Rachel please would I be able to come and get ready in here with you?"

"That sounds like a lovely idea, have you decided what you're going to wear?"

"I'm going to wear that new dress you bought me for my Birthday"

"Why don't you go and get it and bring it in here then?"

Ruby ran back to her bedroom and got her dress and then came back into Rachel's bedroom.

When she came back in Rachel was looking through her wardrobe trying to decide what to wear.

Eventually she decided on pair of jeans with a nice top. Rachel got her underwear out and then went into her en suite to put them on.

When she came back out she put her jeans and top on but then she didn't think it looked right.

"What do you think of this Ruby?"

"Well I like it but I think you should wear something a bit nicer"

Ruby then went over to her Auntie's wardrobe.

"I think you should wear this" Ruby said pointing to one of Rachel's dresses

Rachel looked at it, it was one of her favourites but she couldn't help but feel it was a bit too dressy for where they were going.

But in the end she decided to put it on anyway, just deciding she wanted to make herself feel nice about herself.

"I think you might be right" Rachel said

Rachel took off the jeans and top she'd previously put on and then slipped into the red dress.

It made look Rachel look amazing, it really showed off her curves and slim waist and made her look a lot younger.

"You look really pretty Auntie Rachel"

"Aww thanks love, just let me dry my hair and then we'll get you into your dress shall we?"

"Yes can I have a shower first?" Ruby asked wanting to be like her Auntie

"I would think so, do you want to have one in here?"

"Yes please"

Rachel went out to the airing cupboard and got her a clean towel before coming back in and turning the shower on for her.

"Just shout if you need anything"

Rachel went into her bedroom and dried her hair.

About 10 minutes later it was all dry.

She heard the shower was still on so she went into check on Ruby.

"Are you okay in here Ruby?"

"Yes but I don't know how to turn the shower off so I thought I'd just stay in here until you came in. I didn't want to get out anyway though because it's really nice and relaxing" Ruby said, she really could talk for England sometimes

Rachel open the shower door and tried to turn the shower off without getting wet.

Ruby then stepped out of the shower and Rachel wrapped the towel around her and dried her off.

Rachel had put a shower cap on her so luckily they didn't have the hassle of having to dry Ruby's long, blond hair.

Once Ruby was all dry Rachel helped her into her pretty, pink dress and then they sat on Rachel's bed so that Rachel could do Ruby's hair.

Rachel always loved having Ruby to stay. It felt so nice being able to look after a little girl all over again.

Sometimes her daughter's would ask her to do their hair or makeup if they were doing something nice but it was different to when they used to depend on her all the time.

When Ruby was around it reminded her of what it used to be like, and in some way she really did miss having young daughter's but she loved her daughter's growing up all the same.

Once Rachel had plaited the top half of Ruby's hair Ruby was all ready to go so she sat on Rachel's bed and watched as she did her makeup.

"Auntie Rachel please can I wear some makeup?"

"No love I don't think you're old enough for that yet do you? You're beautiful just the way you are"

Chloe was getting ready for her party. She'd put on the black dress that she'd bought last week when they went shopping and was just doing her makeup.

By the time she'd finished her makeup she really was looking a lot older.

She was looking forward to tonight so much.

Her friends had all been drinking at parties for nearly a year now but Chloe still never had. She was too scared of her Mum finding out because she knew she would disapprove.

But she'd had enough of feeling like the baby all the time which was why she'd decided to drink tonight and she was really excited about trying it. She was staying around Georgia's house so really there was no reason for her Mum to find out.

After she'd straightened her hair Chloe went downstairs and put her bag in the hallway. She wanted to get going now because she was worried someone would end up finding the bottle of vodka in her bag.

Chris was shocked when he saw his daughter walk into the kitchen, she looked much too grown up for his liking. She looked sixteen easily if not seventeen.

"Why are you looking at me like that Dad?"

"What the hell are you wearing? Have you seen this Rach?"

"Yes she tried the dress on for me when she'd bought it, I think it looks fine she could be wearing something a lot worse. You look absolutely gorgeous darling"

"Thanks Mum"

"You do look lovely Chlo, just a bit grown up for my liking"

Once Amy and Phil had come down they were ready to go.

They got into the car and dropped Chloe off at Georgia's house.

"Have a good time love"

"Thanks Mum, see you tomorrow"

Amy was starting to feel a bit worried about her sister now, she hoped she'd be sensible with how much she was drinking and not get too carried away.

They drove to the restaurant and parked the car before going inside.

They were a bit early so there table wasn't ready yet so they got some drinks at the bar.

Rachel and Amy both had a cocktail but everyone else was on soft drinks.

Once their table was ready they went and sat down.

They all had a lovely meal out together, and it was really nice having Ruby and Phil there too.

Chloe arrived at Georgia's house and knocked on the door.

She was the first one there so she went up and put her stuff in Georgia's bedroom.

Chloe showed her the bottle of vodka so now both girls were looking forward to drinking it.

"Is your Mum still here?"

"No she left half an hour ago but she said she's coming home at 12 so we need to try and get everyone out before then. Shall we get some drinks?"

"Sounds good to me"

The two of them went downstairs into the kitchen.

Georgia had some Malibu down there and some sourz along with lots of lemonade and coke.

"Mum's made loads of food"

"I'm not even that hungry for some reason" Chloe said

"No me neither, I had some toast an hour ago so I probably won't eat much"

Chloe made a vodka and lemonade for her and Georgia. She didn't have a clue how much vodka you were supposed to put in so she let Georgia do that bit.

By the time everyone started arriving Chloe was already feeling quite tipsy.

She was liking how the alcohol was making her feel, a lot more confident and happier than usual.

Once Chloe had finished her drink she went and made herself another one.

She put quite a bit of vodka in but this time she decided to add some Malibu too.

It wasn't lomg before she was up and dancing and having a great time.

She was getting attention off all of the boys. She'd always been quite good friends with all of the boys in her year but they seemed to be treating her differently tonight.

She was dancing with a boy called Harry who she secretly fancied. He kept touching her and he soon had his arms snaked around her waist.

One minute they were just dancing, but then the next thing she knew Harry was leaning in quite close so she leant in too and soon they were making out.

Harry's hands found his way to Chloe's bum and he kept grabbing it. Chloe wasn't used to this sort of attention but she was enjoying it all the same.

"Shall we go and get another drink?" Chloe slurred

Harry nodded, both of them were extremely drunk by this point.

Chloe had only had two drinks but they'd both been very strong and obviously she wasn't used to drinking so it hadn't taken long to affect her badly.

They both got drinks before going back into the lounge.

Chloe continued to have a good time but it wasn't long before she was feeling very sick and had to lie down on the sofa.

Georgia noticed her friend lying down so came over to her.

"Chloe are you okay?"

"I'm not feeling so good, I feel sick" Chloe said whilst still taking sips from her cup

"Well what've you got there?"

Georgia took a sip out of Chloe's cup and realised she was drinking straight Malibu.

"Bloody hell Chlo you shouldn't be drinking that straight"

Chloe then started clutching at her stomach so Georgia knew what was coming next.

She quickly rushed her friend into the bathroom where she was sick.

"I'm feeling much better now" Chloe said once she was done

"Well that's good"

"Shall we go back downstairs?"

"Okay but no more drinking"

Chloe went back downstairs and stayed with Georgia for a bit.

Georgia soon went off though so Chloe made her way back to the kitchen and got herself another vodka and lemonade, again she made it very strong.

It wasn't long before Chloe was in a very bad way.

She went and found Harry who immediately wrapped his arms around her.

"Harry did you know you were my first kiss?" Chloe said very loudly "so I was thinking we should just go all the way because I really like you so maybe we should just have sex tonight too"

Some of Chloe's close friends had heard what she was saying so despite the fact they were a bit drunk too they dragged her away and took her up to Georgia's bedroom.

"Why've we come up here? I was having fun downstairs"

"We're ringing your Mum Chloe, you need to go home"

"No don't call my Mum she'll be so mad"

"You can't stay here any longer"

Georgia went on Chloe's phone and rang Rachel.

"Chloe is everything okay?" Rachel said when she picked up the phone. It was 11:30 so Rachel and Chris were in bed

"It's not Chloe Rachel, it's Georgia"

"Oh hi Georgia, is everything alright?"

"No not really" Georgia said looking at Chloe who was feeling sick again "Chloe needs picking up"

"Why what's happened?"

"She's not feeling well" Georgia said not wanting to be the one to have to tell her head teacher that Chloe was drunk

"I'll be there as soon as I can"

Rachel hung up and put her coat on top of her pyjamas.

"Do you want me to go Rach, you had that cocktail and a glass of wine"

"I know but I feel fine, you know what Chloe get's like when she's ill she just wants her Mum"

Rachel rushed out and got into the car to drive to Georgia's.

Whilst Rachel was gone Ruby woke up. She'd been dreaming that she was going for a wee but when she woke up she realised that she'd just wet the bed.

Ruby was really embarrassed, she hated that it kept happening.

It had been happening a lot in the last few months and she was getting really fed up with it.

It had happened quite a few times when she'd stayed at Rachel's when she was younger and Rachel had never been cross about it but she just didn't want to tell her because she was so embarrassed about it.

Ruby started crying and in the end she decided to just tell Rachel so that she could help her sort it.

She climbed out of bed, her wet pyjamas clinging to her, and went into Rachel and Chris's bedroom.

Chris was awake when she went in but there was no sign of Rachel.

"Uncle Chris, where's Auntie Rachel?"

"She's had to go and pick Chloe up from her friend's house because she's not very well, is everything okay?"

"Yes I just want Auntie Rachel" Ruby said with tears rolling down her cheeks

"Why don't you come and jump into bed with me and wait until she gets home then? I don't think she'll be too long"

"No I'll just go back to bed, I'll be fine"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

Ruby slowly walked back and got into bed. She was feeling really uncomfortable but was too scared to try and sort it out herself in case Chris came into check on her and found out what had happened.

Rachel pulled up outside of Georgia's house and went and knocked on the door.

Georgia had Chloe waiting on the stairs with her stuff so as soon as Rachel was there Chloe let her in.

"Are you not feeling very well Chlo?" Rachel said sympathetically

"No I feel really sick Mum but please don't me bad with me I was only having a bit of fun, you weren't meant to find out but now you have" Chloe said slurring her words

Rachel soon realised Chloe was drunk so anger started flooding through her.

"In the car now Chloe" Rachel said grabbing her wrist

Rachel stormed out with Chloe and didn't even bother saying goodbye to Georgia.

"Ow Mum you're hurting me"

"No I'm not, now get in the car" Rachel said opening up the passenger door

Rachel started up the car and started driving home.

"Mum I feel really sick"

"Don't you dare throw up in this car" Rachel said however it was too late because Chloe suddenly emptied the contents of her stomach all down her and onto the floor

"For gods sake Chloe, I hope you realise how much trouble you're in"

Chloe wasn't listening to her Mum now, she had her eyes closed and had just about passed out on the seat.

The car was stinking which was making her feel quite sick now too, so she put her foot down a bit to get home as quickly as she could.

Rachel sighed but didn't say anything else for the entire car journey home.

Once they pulled onto the drive Rachel got out of the car and then tried to get Chloe out.

She was passed out on the seat though so she couldn't get her in and had to shout to Chris.

Chris carried Chloe up to her bedroom and laid her down on her bed.

"I'll take it from here Chris"

"Ok, oh Ruby came in for you earlier but she went back into bed when I told her you weren't there. She seemed upset"

"I'll check on her in a minute, she's probably gone back to sleep though"

Rachel took Chloe's dress off her and got her into a pair of pyjamas.

She left her, right now she was so angry at her daughter.

Rachel took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down before she went down into Ruby's room to check on her.

When she went in Ruby was sat up in bed crying.

"Hey Ruby, what's wrong?" Rachel said rushing over and sitting on the bed next to her niece

"I'm sorry Auntie Rachel"

"What for darling?"

"I've wet the bed" Ruby said feeling very ashamed

"That's no big deal love, these things happen sometimes. You jump out of bed and we'll get you sorted"

Ruby got out of bed, she was shivering and feeling all itchy from being in her wet pyjamas for so long.

Rachel quickly took her wet pyjamas off and grabbed a clean pair before carrying Ruby into the bathroom.

"Let's get you feeling a bit fresher shall we?" Rachel asked whilst running some water in the sink

She got a flannel and gave Ruby a quick wash. She then dried her down and put her in the clean pyjamas.

They went back into Ruby's bedroom and Rachel stripped the sheet off. She got another one from the airing cupboard and then put it on.

"In you jump them love"

"I'm really sorry Auntie Rachel, I didn't mean to"

"Of course you didn't, it's bound to happen once in a while when you're still young"

"But it's been happening lots lately" Ruby mumbled quietly but loud enough for Rachel to still hear her

"Oh is it? How come?"

"I don't know it just has"

"Well when I was your age it used to happen to me all the time too, so it's honestly nothing to worry about"

Rachel stayed with Ruby until she dropped off to sleep and then went back to bed herself.

She was beginning to think that Ruby wasn't particularly happy at home at the minute. After all the reason Rachel used to have lots of accidents when she was her age was more than likely due to the bad home life that she had.

Rachel knew she'd need to speak to both Ruby and Phil in the morning to try and see if there was anything else Mel had been hiding from her and to see what was upsetting Ruby.

It didn't take long for Rachel to drop off to sleep after that, she really was very tired.

When Chloe woke up the next morning she wondered what she was doing in her bed. She couldn't remember coming home last night.

Bits of last night started coming back to her and then she guessed she must have been picked up last night because she was so drunk.

This was starting to make her worry now, she knew how mad her Mum was going to be.

Chloe heard Rachel coming up the stairs so quickly turned over and pretended to be asleep still.

Rachel walked straight in with the intention to wake her daughter up.

"Time to wake up Chloe" Rachel said shaking her daughter

"Mum I'm sleeping"

"I want you down in the kitchen in 10 minutes, I need to talk to you" Rachel said sounding strict

"About what?"

"I think you know full well about what"

Chloe came down 5 minutes later wanting to get this over with as soon as she could

"Right then Chloe care to explain how you came about getting so drunk last night your friends actually had to call me to come and get you and why you were even drinking in the first place"

"I was at a party Mum, everyone drinks at a party"

"You're 15 Chloe, so that makes you three years too young"

"I'm going to be 16 in a couple of months so basically two years"

"Don't try and get clever with me young lady, and two years too young is still bad enough"

Amy walked in at that moment to get a drink, she still didn't know that Chloe had come home drunk last night.

"You let Amy drink at parties"

"Amy didn't start drinking until she was 17, nearly 18"

"Yeah that's what she told you, I bet you she was drinking when she was my age"

"Don't drag me into this" Amy said

Amy gave Chloe a look as she left the kitchen, she really hoped Chloe wouldn't tell Rachel that she'd bought her the vodka.

"I'm really not happy about this Chloe, in fact I'm quite disappointed in you"

"It's what everyone else does Mum. Before I used to either not go to the party or sit there while everyone around me got drunk and believe me that's not very fun" Chloe said with tears forming in her eyes, she did hate being in trouble with her Mum.

Rachel knew Chloe would have only done it to fit in with her friends and realised that maybe she had been a bit too hard on her. After all she could remember what it was like to be a teenager

"Look Chloe maybe I have been a bit hard on you. If it's what your friends are doing maybe I can start to turn a blind eye on the drinking thing"

"Really?" Chloe said not believing she was hearing those words coming out of her Mum's mouth

"Hang on I haven't finished, as long as it's not all the time and you don't get as bad as you were last night"

"I promise you'll never have to pick me up again because I'm so drunk"

"I hope not" Rachel said although she wasn't sure Chloe would be able to stick to this promise

"I really am sorry you know Mum"

"I know you are, but I can see why you're doing it after all most teenagers your age probably are"

"I'm going to go back to bed"

"Don't think you're getting off the hook without punishment"

"Really? Are you grounding me?"

"No I'm not grounding you but I'm taking Ruby swimming this morning so you can come too" Rachel said thinking a morning spent at the swimming pool surrounded by loud, screaming kids would be a good enough punishment

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope, we're leaving in an hour so make sure you're ready"

By 11 they were all ready to go swimming.

Everyone else was waiting in the car and Rachel had just nipped in as she'd forgotten to pick up Ruby's woggle when the phone rang.

Rachel sighed but she did pick up the phone.

"Hello is this Rachel Mason speaking?"

"Yes speaking, but I'm actually on the way out so is this going to be quick?"

"This is important Rachel. My name's Tom from Manchester police station. I'm afraid I'm calling about your sister"

"What about Mel?"

"I'm afraid to tell you your sister had an accident in Portugal"

"What kind of accident?"

"She fell off the rocks and drowned, we think she was drunk"

"Are you trying… trying to tell me that she's d- dead?"

"I'm sorry Rachel, but yes that's what I'm ringing to tell you"

Please review xxxx


	4. Chapter 4

It was the following day and everyone was in shock after finding out about Mel.

Ruby had been so upset but had become extremely quiet which was worrying Rachel. Phil wasn't saying much either.

Rachel's three children had all been really close with their Auntie so were naturally incredibly upset as well.

Despite how much Rachel and Mel used to argue, she was still Rachel's sister so Rachel was also struggling to come to terms with the loss of her sister.

The whole thing didn't seem to have sunk in yet.

Rachel was stood in the utility room sorting out the washing. She'd washed her hair but done nothing with it so it was stuck out all over the place, she had no makeup on and she was just wearing a pair of tracksuit bottoms with a hoodie.

Rachel put a white load of washing on and stood there watching it spin for a minute or so.

She noticed a red tea towel in there amongst all the white washing and suddenly burst into tears.

Chris had just come in from taking the rubbish out to the garage so found his wife sat down on the floor with her back against the cupboards sobbing. Chris had taken the day off work knowing Rachel was going to need some support today.

He sat down next to his wife and held her for a few minutes while she cried. He wasn't used to this, he was so used to Rachel being the strong one but the whole Mel thing had seemed to affect her badly.

Rachel allowed herself to cry into the man she loved for a while but then she realised she needed to pull herself together. Not for her, but for the sake of those children who were all depending on her.

"I need to go to the supermarket and get something for tea"

"Let me go"

"No I'll go, I just need a bit of time to myself and then when I get back I'll be fine. Just keep an eye on the kids for me"

"I will"

Rachel put her raincoat on as the weather was terrible, it felt like a winter's day. Chris was shocked that his wife was going out the way she was, normally she wouldn't be seen dead looking like that.

Rachel was just opening up the front door when Ruby walked in.

"Auntie Rachel where are you going?"

"Can I go with you?"

"No I'm going on my own, you stay here with Uncle Chris"

"Okay" Ruby said with tears filling her eyes, but Rachel didn't notice this because she'd already walked out of the door

Ruby ran up to her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

It was all her fault that her Mum had died, and now not even her Auntie loved her anymore so she realised she couldn't be here anymore.

Everyone was going to blame her for Mel's death so it would just be easier if she left.

Ruby picked up her rucksack and put some stuff into it. She found her favourite teddy, the one Rachel had bought for her when she was born, and put it in,

She couldn't quite do up the zip so the teddy's head was sticking out the top of her rucksack.

Ruby put the bag on her back and then went downstairs.

All the children were in their rooms and Chris was too busy watching the football to hear her come down the stairs or leave the house.

Ruby hadn't even realised it was raining until she got outside but she couldn't risk going back inside to get a coat now in case she was seen.

Ruby started plodding along, walking through all of the puddles and not trying to avoid them.

It was a really misty day so when Ruby had been walking for about 5 minutes she turned around and had no idea where she was. So even if she wanted to go back now she couldn't. Not that there would ever be any point in going back, everyone was going to hate her.

Rachel was starting to feel guilty about not letting Ruby come with her. The girl obviously just wanted to be with her Auntie, the one woman who had always been there for her and who she looked up to, but Rachel had selfishly just wanted time to herself but now she felt bad about not letting her come.

Rachel rushed around the supermarket as quickly as she could. She wasn't thinking properly and by the time she was packing the car up she was sure she didn't buy anything to make a complete meal despite how much she'd bought.

Once she pulled onto the drive she didn't bother to bring the shopping in, but instead rushed straight into the house.

"Chris please can you bring the shopping in for me?"

"Yeah sure" Chris said coming out to the kitchen

"Where's Ruby?"

"Up in her room, all the kids are I haven't seen any of them since you left"

Rachel went straight up to Ruby's bedroom but she wasn't in there so she went onto the landing and started calling her name but there was no reply.

Rachel looked everywhere, in the bathroom, in her bedroom, and then in all of the rooms in the house but Ruby was nowhere to be seen.

She even checked the garden and the garage but Ruby had gone.

Tears started prickling Rachel's eyes. How could she possibly of lost her five year old, innocent little niece?

Everyone had heard Rachel frantically looking for Ruby so had come downstairs to see what was going on.

"Mum what's wrong?" Amy said when she saw her Mum was crying

"Ruby's gone, have- have you seen her?"

"No I thought she was in her room"

"Well she's not anymore, I can't find her anywhere. We need to go and find her Chris, she must have left the house"

"Rachel you need to calm down" Chris said, it was so unusual for Rachel not to seem in control of a situation

"Calm down, how the hell am I supposed to calm down when Ruby is out on her own, it's pouring down with rain, it's misty, it's cold. I don't even know why I'm standing around here talking about it, I should be out looking for her"

"Rachel why don't you wait here in case she comes back, I'll go"

"Wait around here doing nothing while my niece freezes to death"

"I was only trying to help"

The kids can all wait here in case she comes back, we'll both take out cars and look for her Chris"

"I'm coming too Rach"

"No Phil, you wait here"

"You can't make me, she's my sister"

"Okay well you go with Chris then"

Rachel picked up her keys and ran out to the car desperate to find her niece.

Ruby was still walking, but she was freezing. She was shivering all over and she was tired and she just wanted to be in the warm.

She also wanted to be giving her Auntie a big cuddle but she knew she would never get the chance to do that again.

Ruby had been out for about an hour now but she couldn't walk any further so she sat down on a bench. She pulled her teddy out of her bag and sat there cuddling it.

She was sat there with tears rolling down her cheeks when a lady came and sat by her. She looked kind of familiar to Ruby but she couldn't think where she knew her from.

"Ruby is that you?" Steph asked but Ruby didn't say anything

"My name's Steph I think I work with your Auntie Rachel, do you remember me?" Steph said but again Ruby didn't say anything, she wasn't even acknowledging that Steph was speaking

Steph was sure that it was Rachel's niece so got her phone out of her bag to call Rachel.

Rachel had been driving around for ages, but it was so hard to look for her when it was so misty.

Suddenly Rachel heard her phone ringing, however when she looked at the screen she saw it was Steph who was calling, really not who she was hoping.

"Steph this really isn't a good time"

"Rachel I think I've found your niece sat on a bench, but I can't be sure it is her because she won't speak a word to me"

"Steph where are you?"

"I'm on the bench outside Rochdale station"

"Wait there Steph, I'm coming to you"

Rachel drove as quicly as she could and parked the car up.

She got out of the car and ran over to her niece.

When Ruby saw her Auntie coming she tried to rub away, but Rachel grabbed the little girl and held her against her chest.

Tears were falling down both of their faces.

"Ruby what were you thinking? Do you know how worried I've been?" Rachel said but she didn't have the slightest hint of anger in her voice

"Are you going to be OK Rachel? It's just I'm going to miss my train in a minute"

"You go Steph, thank you so much for finding her"

Rachel realised how much Ruby was shivering so took her straight back to the car.

Ruby had become quite lethargic by this point so wasn't trying to escape anymore.

Rachel had some all of their swimming stuff in the boot from yesterday still so quickly got some towels out before getting into the back of the car with Ruby.

She got Ruby out of all of her sodden clothes and wrapped the towels around her. Ruby was freezing so Rachel knew she really needed to get her warm.

Rachel stayed there for a good 10 minutes cuddling her niece, who had now fallen fast asleep but she knew she needed to get home with Ruby so she strapped her niece in and drove home, calling Chris on the way.

When they got there Rachel lifted Ruby in and carried her inside, by which point she'd woken up.

As soon as the others heard Rachel and Ruby come in they all rushed over and crowded them.

Ruby didn't want to see any of them though so buried her head in Rachel's chest and started crying.

Amy had run a bath ready for when they got back so Rachel took her straight up.

Amy, Chloe and Ellie all followed them up as they were worried about their cousin.

Rachel put Ruby down in the bathroom and then turned around to face her three daughters.

"Just give us a bit of space" Rachel said before closing the bathroom door

She then turned her attention back to Ruby

Rachel took the towels off her and helped her into the bath. She decided to wait until after her bath to bring up anything that had just happened.

Ruby laid in the bath silently. She'd stopped crying now but she couldn't understand why Rachel was being so nice to her.

She was so happy to be back here now, she felt so much more safe and secure.

Rachel let her have a soak before getting a jug and pouring water all over her hair making it wet.

Rachel then put the shampoo on and started massaging it into Ruby's hair.

She did this for five minutes, hoping it would relax and calm Ruby, before filling the jug up again to rinse the shampoo off.

Rachel put the conditioner on and then rinsed it off with the shower.

"Right let's get you out"

Rachel held up a fluffy white towel and wrapped it around Ruby before lifting her out.

Once Rachel had her sorted in pyjamas with dry hair she filled up a hot water bottle for her and then Rachel brought Ruby into her room.

"Ruby I think we need to have a little chat about why you ran away. Were you just upset about Mummy?"

Ruby nodded her head.

"I know you're missing her, but we all are, you should have just come and spoken to me about it and I would hope that I could've helped you to feel better"

"But you don't understand" Ruby mumbled

"What don't I understand love?"

"You're going to hate me"

"Hey what are you talking about? How could I ever hate you?"

"Because it's my fault that Mummy died"

"Where on earth have you got that idea from?"

"My wish came true"

"What wish?"

"When I blew out my candles on my Birthday cake I wished that I could live with you instead of Mummy, and my wish has come true because Mummy died which means I'll have to live with you" Ruby said before bursting into tears

Rachel lifted the little girl onto her lap and rubbed her back while she cried.

"Don't you ever blame yourself my love, your Mum's death was just a very bad accident. Of course it's not your fault, you've done nothing wrong darling, absolutely nothing"

"I thought that everyone was going to blame me so I just thought it would be easier if I left"

Hearing Ruby saying all of these things was bringing tears to Rachel's eyes again.

"Of course it wouldn't be, do you have any idea how worried I was when I couldn't find you? Because I love you so much Ruby and nothing you ever do will make me hate you. There's nothing you could ever do that would make me want you to leave. This is your home now Ruby"

"So you really don't think it's my fault that Mummy died?"

"I really don't, no"

Rachel held Ruby while she cried.

"That's it darling, you have a good cry let it all out" Rachel said crying quite a bit herself now too

Ruby ended up crying so much that she cried herself to sleep.

Rachel put her under the quilt before quietly going out.

She went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Her eyes were all red and puffy from crying so much, so she washed her face before going downstairs knowing everyone would be worrying about Ruby.

"Rach is Ruby okay?" Phil asked

"Yes she's fine now"

"Why did she run away?"

"She thought it was her fault your Mum died"

"How could she think it was her fault?"

"She made a wish on her Birthday that she could come and live with me, and she thought her wish had come true because of your Mum dying"

"How could she think that, it's obviously Mum's fault being so irresponsible as usual" Phil said getting angry

Phil left and went up to his bedroom so Rachel tried to go after him.

"Just leave him for a bit Rach" Chris said placing his hand on Rachel's arm reassuringly

Rachel sat down on the sofa, she knew how much everyone was hurting but she just didn't know what she could do to help them which she hated.

Chloe was sat on one of the chairs staring out of the window distantly.

Rachel had been so caught up in how Ruby and Phil must be feeling after loosing their Mum that she'd kind of forgotten about the fact her daughter's had lost an Auntie.

Chloe had always been really close to Mel, she probably had the best relationship with her Auntie out of the three girls.

After seeing tears forming in Chloe's eyes Rachel rushed over and sat down by her daughter and put her arm around her.

Chloe was trying really hard not to let the tears fall from her eyes.

"You can cry, it's okay" Rachel said causing Chloe to let all the tears spill down her cheeks

"It doesn't seem real Mum, if I'd have known Saturday was going to be the last time I'd see her then I would've at least given a proper hug. I barely even said goodbye, one minute she was there dropping Ruby and Phil off and the next minute she was gone"

"I know my love, I know. I didn't exactly end on great terms with Mel, so yes if I could I would do things differently as well. But we can't think like this, it will only make it harder. You've got some amazing memories with Mel, so just hold onto them"

"I know. Will Ruby even be able to remember Mel when she's get older?"

"Hopefully a bit, but I honestly don't know. The memories that she has will probably end up being extremely distant"

"I couldn't imagine having to grow up without a Mum, without you"

"Well I hope you never have to darling"

Rachel gave her daughter a big cuddle before going up to check on Phil.

She went up to his bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Yeah" Phil shouted so Rachel walked in

When she walked in Phil was lying on his bed looking up to the ceiling.

"Philip I know things must be difficult for you at the minute" Rachel said closing the door behind her "but just remember you've still got me, you've still got all of us"

"So we're staying here permanantly now are you?"

"That's what your Mum said she wanted if ever anything were to happen to her"

"I'm surprised she even thought about us" Philip said sounding quite bitter

"Oh Phil, your Mum loved you so much you know she did"

"Well maybe she could have tried to be there a bit more. After she started at Waterloo Road I thought she'd finally come to her senses and was actually starting to become a good Mum. Not that it mattered for me, but Ruby's only 5 she needed her Mum"

"So what changed?"

"She met Mark, a rich man comes along and yet again gets put before her own children"

"Oh Phil, why didn't you talk to me about any of this? You are one for bottling things up aren't you?"

"I didn't want to burden you anymore"

"You never have been a burden Phil, and you never will be for that matter"

Rachel did feel sorry for Philip, as much as Mel had always loved him she hadn't always been there for him.

As a little boy Phil had spent a lot of time around his Auntie's house, but as he got older when his Mum wasn't there he just learned to look after himself, and then Ruby too once she was born.

"Maybe now Ruby can have a proper childhood, rather than the crap one Mum was giving her" Phil blurted out now crying

Rachel always found it hard to comfort Phil, he wasn't one for opening up but she put her arm around him and tried her best to calm him down.

She stayed with him for quite a while but in the end she figured he just wanted a bit of time to himself.

Rachel went into her bedroom to check on Ruby but when she got in there she saw Ruby wasn't in bed however then she saw the door to her en suite was closed so presumed she must be in there.

Rachel waited on the bed and a few minutes later she heard the flush and then Ruby walked out.

"Hey love did you have a good sleep?"

"Yes thank you but now I have a tummy ache"

"I reckon you need to have something to eat" Rachel said as Ruby had barely eaten a thing since finding out about her Mum, not that Rachel had either "I think we both do"

"But my tummy hurts"

"I know but it's probably because you're hungry. I was going to make a pasta bake, does that sound alright?"

Ruby nodded so Rachel quickly made her bed up before going downstairs with Ruby.

Oncce Rachel got Ruby settled watching a film on the sofa with Amy she went into the kitchen and made a start with tea.

She needed to get everyone back into a routine and she planned to start to do this by giving them proper meals.

Chris came out and gave her a hand with tea and once it was ready she called everyone through to the kitchen.

Everyone was quite quiet through tea but Rachel was pleased to see that Ruby managed to eat all of the pasta on her plate. Rachel hadn't given her a lot as she didn't want to overwhelm her but she was glad that she'd managed to eat it all.

After tea Chris said he would clear up so Rachel took Ruby back upstairs and got her to bed as she was still shattered, which was understandable because she'd hardly slept the night before.

"Auntie Rachel please can I sleep in with you tonight?" Ruby asked sweetly

"I think you'd be comfier in your own bed wouldn't you? Rather than in the middle of Uncle Chris" Rachel said, she knew there was room in their king size bed but she didn't really want Ruby to get into the habit of sleeping in with them

"But I don't want to sleep on my own" Ruby said with tears in her eyes

"You'll be fine, and I'm just next door, come on jump into bed"

Ruby bit her bottom lip to stop herself from crying and did as Rachel said and got into bed.

"If you want me don't be afraid to come and find me"

"Good night Auntie Rachel" Ruby said turning over so she wasn't facing her Auntie

"Good night my love, sleep well, I love you lots"

Rachel sat with her for a bit and then gave her a kiss before going out.

As soon as Rachel left Ruby burst into tears. She didn't like being in here on her own, she just wanted to cuddle up with her Auntie.

Rachel went downstairs ready to have a relaxing evening.

Ruby hated being upstairs all on her own. She couldn't stop thinking about her Mum. Even though Rachel had made her realise it wasn't her fault that her Mum had died, she was still really missing her and felt really sad that she was never going to see her again.

Ruby kept crying and ended up getting herself into a real state.

Ellie was just passing Ruby's bedroom when she heard her crying. She stuck her head around the door and saw how upset her cousin was but she didn't really know what to say to her to make her feel better so decided to just go down and tell Rachel.

"Mum Ruby's really upset"

Rachel went straight upstairs to see Ruby. Her heart melted when she saw her niece crying her eyes out.

Ruby was crying so much she could hardly breathe.

"Take some nice deep breaths for me sweetheart, in and out, in and out" Rachel said while rubbing Ruby's back

"Good girl" Rachel said as Ruby started taking deep breaths

Suddenly Ruby started to feel unwell and finished up being sick all over Rachel's top and her bed.

Ruby felt so embarrassed for doing this.

"I'm really sorry"

"It's fine darling, don't worry about it"

Ruby was really upset and clearly needed a cuddle so Rachel took her dirty top straight off and then pulled Ruby into her chest where she continued to cry.

Amy had been worried about Ruby too so came up to check on her.

"Mum is she okay?"

"She will be, can you jus strip this bed for me and put it in the wash love?"

"Yeah sure"

"Thank you"

Rachel picked Ruby up and carried her through to the bathroom.

She gave her a little wash and brushed her teeth but she was still crying loads so Rachel sat down on the toilet seat and rocked back and forth with Ruby in her arms.

"Don't cry my little love, everything's going to be okay in the end"

"I- I don't want to sleep on- on my own" Ruby cried struggling to get her words out

"Okay you can sleep in with me then just for tonight"

Eventually Rachel got Ruby to calm down so went and put her in her bed.

"I'm just going to put my pyjamas on"

Rachel got changed into her pyjamas and then climbed into bed beside Ruby and stayed with her until she drifted off to sleep.

For now she looked reasonably peaceful, but Rachel knew she was going to have a very upset girl on her hands over the next few weeks.

Please review xxxx


	5. Chapter 5

Just over a week had passed since finding out about Mel and although things were better than they were, everyone was still pretty upset about it.

The funeral had been today so it hadn't been the nicest of days but Rachel was just relieved that it was over. She was hoping now that they'd be able to start moving on, and obviously not forget about Mel but be able to get used to life without her.

Rachel had been in two minds about whether or not to take Ruby to the funeral. On one hand a funeral wasn't a very nice place for a 5 year old girl and if it had been anyone else Rachel probably wouldn't have let her go, but it was different because it was her Mum.

Ruby had found the whole thing very difficult though and had been pretty much stuck to Rachel for the entire day.

One of Ellie's friends had been out shopping for her Birthday today, but obviously Ellie hadn't been able to go but she was having a sleepover after so Ellie didn't have to miss out on that as well.

After the funeral Ellie went home and packed up her stuff and got changed.

She was still getting sorted when Rachel walked in.

"Are you sure you want to go to Poppy's tonight? Because I'm sure she'd understand if you didn't feel up to it after... well you know after the funeral today"

"No I want to go"

"Ok if you're sure" Rachel said

She thought Ellie might be feeling too upset to go, but she hadn't seemed too bad today. She didn't cry once unlike Amy, Chloe and Ruby who had cried the whole way through the whole service.

Rachel had tried her best to stay strong for the sake of the kids but even she gave up in the end and just let herself cry.

Once Ellie had finished getting ready Rachel dropped her round to Poppy's house. She watched until Ellie went through the front door and then drove back home again.

When she got in she didn't feel like doing anything, despite the enormous list of jobs she knew she should be getting on with. But after today she just wanted to curl up on the sofa and put a film on.

It was another rainy day so Rachel closed the curtains and put all the lamps on before sitting down on the sofa.

Ruby was lying with her head on the arm of the sofa but as soon as Rachel sat down she moved so that her head was resting on Rachel's lap.

Rachel started stroking her nieces hair as they all started watching Bride Wars which was on the TV.

After the film had finished it was getting quite late and they hadn't eaten yet.

No-one was really that hungry but Chris went and picked up a few pizzas.

While he was out there was a knock at the door so Rachel went out to answer it.

When she opened it there was a horrible looking drunk man on the door step stinking of beer. Rachel suddenly felt quite vulnerable and exposed stood there and felt quite uncomfortable with him being there.

Ruby followed Rachel out but as soon as she saw the man on the other side of the door she immediately ran upstairs.

Rachel wondered why, but she couldn't blame her actually the man didn't look like very nice at all.

"Can I help you?" Rachel asked hoping Chris was going to pull up on the drive any minute

"No not really, not now. You think you're so important, some hero down at that perfect little school of yours. But you're far from perfect let me tell you that, Mel told me so. Were you trying to be spiteful not telling me about her funeral" the man slurred

"I'm sorry but I don't even know who you are"

"I'm Mark, your sister's boyfriend. Only I don't think she told you about me because you'd only disapprove, from what I heard you disapproved of everything your little sister did, didn't you Rachel" Mark said getting closer and closer to Rachel's face

"Sorry I didn't tell you about the funeral, but you're right Mel didn't tell me anything about you so I wouldn't have known how to get into contact you, now if that's everything..."

"No actually that's not everything, I want to see those pathetic kids of Mel's"

"I'm afraid that won't be happening"

"But I think they'll want to see me, I grew close to the pair of them when me and your sister were together, I was like a Dad to them"

Rachel's heart was starting to beat faster and faster now, she didn't know how to get rid of this man but she was feeling really uncomfortable and unsafe in her own home.

Phil was in the lounge listening carefully to the whole conversation, he didn't want to see that man ever again but he was getting worried when he could tell his Aunt couldn't get rid of Mark so realised he might have to go out in a minute to help her.

Eventually Chris pulled up on the drive.

He noticed Rachel looking worried with a quite looking rough man standing quite close to her so got out of the car as quickly as he could and came over.

Rachel was so relieved when her husband walked up and took hold of her hand, she felt so much safer now that Chris was there.

Even Chris found it quite hard but eventually they both watched as Mark stumbled down the path. Rachel really hope that he wouldn't return there was something about that man that made her feel uncomfortable and on edge.

Chris carried the pizzas through to the kitchen so Rachel called all the kids through.

Everyone came out to the kitchen except Ruby so Rachel went to find her.

She couldn't seem to find her anywhere and she was actually starting to worry that Ruby had run away again but suddenly she heard sobs coming from her wardrobe so slid the door open and saw Ruby sat down in amongst all of Rachel's clothes.

Rachel crouched down and realised she was shaking and she was as white as a sheet.

"What are you doing in there my love?"

"I- i-is he g-gone?" Ruby stuttered clearly petrified

"is who gone?"

"Mark"

"Yes he's gone Ruby" Rachel said starting to wonder why Ruby was so scared of him "out you come sweetheart, your completely safe I promise"

Ruby took hold of Rachel's hand and came out of the wardrobe but she was still shaking so Rachel sat down on the bed with her.

"Auntie Rachel I never want to see Mark again, please don't make me go and live with him"

"Why on earth would I make you go and live with him?"

"I don't know, I just heard him say he wanted to see us"

"This is your home now Ruby, I promise I'll never let anyone hurt you you're completely safe here"

Tears were pouring out of Ruby's eyes so Rachel pulled Ruby into her chest where she cried.

The others were starting to wonder where Rachel and RUby had got to so Amy came up to see what was going on.

She walked into Rachel's room and found the two of them sat on the bed and then she saw Ruby must be crying.

"Is everything okay Mum?"

"Yeah just give us a minute, we'll be down soon"

Amy went downstairs thinking Ruby was just upset about her Mum again.

It was becoming more and more obvious to Rachel that Mark wasn't a very nice man at all and she really was worried about what he'd done to Ruby to make her so scared and upset.

She obviously needed to talk to Ruby about it, but guessed it was going to be a very sensitive subject so decided to wait until she'd calmed down a bit.

After a lot of cuddles and reassurance from Rachel Ruby had calmed down so the two of them went down and had a couple of slices of pizza each.

It had been a long day and everyone was feeling worn out so after they'd eaten and cleared up Rachel decided to get Ruby bathed and into bed thinking she could do with an early night.

Rachel went up and ran Ruby her bath before calling her up.

Ruby came upstairs and into the bathroom so Rachel got her undressed and helped her into the bath.

Rachel sat with Ruby whilst she was in the bath but Ruby was being extremely quiet and was barely saying a word.

Rachel wondered when the right time was to ask Ruby about Mark. She realised there probably never would be a right time as she didn't think it was going to be something Ruby would want to talk about, so she thought now would be as good a time as any.

"Ruby you know Mark used to be your Mum's boyfriend, was he always nice to you?"

Ruby immediately tensed up when she heard her Auntie mention his name.

She shook her head but didn't say anything.

"How wasn't he very nice to you my love?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Oh sweetheart, I know this is difficult to talk about but I really do need to know so that I can help you"

"Do I ever have to see him again?"

"Of course you don't"

"Well why do we need to talk about it?" Ruby asked with tears in her eyes. Even thinking about Mark was making her feel scared.

"Because if Mark did things to hurt you or make you upset, then it's too big a thing for a little girl like you to keep to yourself"

Ruby started to cry so Rachel knelt down on the floor and started rubbing her back.

"I'm Rubes, I didn't mean to upset you. How about you finish your bath and then we go downstairs for a hot chocolate. Do you think maybe then you could tell me about it and then after that it will be all over and I won't ask you again"

"Okay then" Ruby cried "but just you, I don't want anyone else to know about it"

"Just me and you"

Rachel washed Ruby's hair for her and then wrapped her in a towel.

Once Ruby was sorted into her pyjamas and had had her hair dried off a bit Rachel took her into the sun room so they were out of the way of everyone else and then went and made a coffee for herself and a hot chocolate for Ruby.

She carried the drinks through and put them on the table.

She'd put lots of cold milk in so Ruby didn't have to wait too long to drink it.

After she'd taken a few sips Rachel took hold of her hand.

"Now then Ruby, do you think you can tell me what Mark did that wasn't very nice?"

"He used to say lots of horrible things to me, but Mummy never believed me because he was always really nice when Mummy was around. And then one day when Mummy was going out with her friends Mark was meant to be looking after me because Phil had already gone out with Bolton, he made me stay up in my bedroom all night, and I was really hungry but he wouldn't get me any tea. I told him I was going to call Mummy because he was being mean again but then he… he" Ruby said but she couldn't carry on

"What did he do Ruby?" Rachel asked but Ruby didn't say anything

Rachel lifted Ruby onto her lap and gave her a big cuddle.

"Okay Ruby, you have a good old cry" Rachel said stroking her hair

"Did Mark hurt you?" Rachel asked

Ruby nodded her head.

"What did he do to hurt you?"

"He hit me and he kicked me and then he told me if I told anyone he'd do it again but only worse and I didn't want him to do it again because it really hurt"

"Did he do it again?"

"No he only did it once but it was the night before Mummy and Mark were going on holiday"

Rachel hadn't noticed any bruises on Ruby or anything like that so he was obviously clever about how he did it. Rachel knew she should call the police about this but wondered whether they would have enough evidence to do anything.

Ruby told Rachel about a few of the other things Mark had done to her. It was making Rachel cry thinking about all these horrible things that her niece had to go through. She couldn't understand how anyone could take their anger out on an innocent little girl.

"Ruby you've been so brave telling me this darling and I promise Mark will never touch or come near you again, but I need you to be even braver and do one more thing for me"

"What?"

"I need you to tell the police"

"Will you be there when I tell them?"

"Of course I will, do you think you can do it for me?"

"I suppose so"

Although Mark had been really horrible to Ruby it sounded as though he'd only been violent the once. Obviously even once was bad enough, but Rachel was just grateful that Ruby would never have to be around him again because she worried about how much worse the situation could've got if Ruby was going back with Mel when they got home from their holiday.

After they'd finished talking Ruby cuddled into Rachel for ages and ended up falling asleep.

When Rachel realised she'd fallen asleep she carefully lifted Ruby up and carried her upstairs.

She felt bad waking her but she knew she needed to make her go to the loo before she went to bed. They were having problems with bed wetting anyway, so she definitely needed to make her go before she went to sleep.

Rachel put Ruby down on the loo, she kind of woke up and went for a wee. Rachel then brushed her teeth before putting Ruby into bed.

Ruby had barely woken up so went back to sleep pretty much straight away.

Rachel stayed sitting there for a while stroking her nieces hair, promising to herself that she'd be there for Ruby from now on and never let anything like this happen to her again.

Rachel then went into her room and got into her pyjamas.

Chris was wondering what she was doing so decided to come up and check on her.

Rachel told Chris everything that Ruby had just told her. Chris held her while she cried. She was so lucky to have him, she didn't think she could do this on her own.

Ellie was at her sleepover and even though she'd really wanted to come before, now that she was here she really wasn't having a good time.

All of her friends were talking and laughing and having a good time, but Ellie just had too much on her mind to be enjoying herself.

They were halfway through eating their tea when one of her friends mentioned that she was going down to London to stay with her Auntie for a few days.

This brought tears to Ellie eyes and all of a sudden she started to really miss Mel. It started to sink in that she was never going to see her Auntie again.

"I'm just going to the loo" Ellie said

She quickly walked out as she felt really upset.

Ellie rushed to the upstairs bathroom and locked the door. As soon as she got in there she started to cry.

All of the emotion that she'd been feeling today had built up and now it was all just coming up.

The more she thought about it the more she cried. She just didn't seem to be able to stop.

Poppy's Mum had been in the kitchen when Ellie went out to go to the loo.

Ellie had seemed extremely quiet and not herself all night. Poppy's Mum knew that it's been her Aunt's funeral today so could understand why she was being quite quiet. She decided to go upstairs and check on Ellie.

She went over to the closed bathroom door and could hear Ellie crying in there.

Poppy's Mum, Sam, knocked on the door.

"Ellie are you okay in there?"

"I'll be out in a minute"

"Okay sweetheart"

Sam waited outside until Ellie came out. Ellie didn't realise that Sam had waited outside for her.

"Ellie are you okay?" Sam asked.

She could see Ellie had been crying lots.

"I want to go home, will you ask my Mum to come and pick me up because I forgot my phone?"

"I'll just drop you, how come you want to go home?"

"I just do"

"That's absolutely fine, are you feeling a bit upset about your Auntie and stuff?"

Ellie nodded before bursting into tears again.

Sam wrapped her arms around her after seeing how upset she was.

"I'll ring Rachel now, do you want to just wait in Poppy's bedroom until she comes?"

Ellie nodded before going into her friend's bedroom.

Sam rang Rachel up and explained what was going on. Rachel said she'd be over as soon as she could.

"Where's Ellie Mum?" Poppy asked

"She's up in your room because she's not feeling too well. Her Mum's coming to pick her up"

"Shall I go up and see her?"

"No I'd just wait down here girls"

Rachel knocked on the door so Sam sent up to get Ellie.

When Ellie came down her friends were all waiting with Rachel and Sam.

"Mum said you're not feeling very well, what's wrong?" Poppy asked

"I've got a bad stomach" Ellie lied

"Come on then let's get you home darling" Rachel said wrapping her arm around her

"Sorry about not staying Poppy, enjoy the rest of your Birthday"

"That's okay, we hope you feel better soon"

Ellie walked out to the car with her Mum and once they were in the car Ellie started crying again.

Ellie hated crying in front of people but right now she couldn't help it and she just wanted a cuddle from her Mum.

Rachel started driving home, but she put her hand on Ellie's leg when she could trying to comfort her daughter the best she could while she was driving.

Once they pulled up on the drive they both got out of the car.

"Is everyone else still downstairs?" Ellie asked

"I think so why?"

"Just wondering, I'm going to go straight up to my room" Ellie said as she definitely didn't want anyone else to see she'd been crying

"Okay darling"

Rachel unlocked the door and the two of them went in.

"I'll be up in a second"

Ellie went straight up and Rachel quickly went into the lounge.

"Where's Ellie?" Chris asked

"She's gone straight up to her room, you know what she's like when she's upset. I'm going to go and talk to her now"

Rachel went up to her daughter's room and found her crying on her bed.

"It's not been a very nice day has it?" Rachel said and Ellie shook her head

"I don't know why I can't stop crying"

"It's because all your emotions have built up, I saw how hard you were trying to stop yourself from crying at the funeral but it's better to just let whatever you're feeling out rather than keeping it inside. I don't like crying in front of people either, but sometimes you just need to. You'll feel better once you've had a good cry"

"I miss her Mum, it feels so weird knowing I'll never see her again"

"I know it hadn't seemed real before but now it's starting to sink in isn't it?"

"Yeah it was so unexpected"

"I know it was, it doesn't seem fair does it?"

"No"

"But we all have so many great memories with her, so we just have to remember the good times we had. Now that today's over I think things will start to get better"

"I feel so sorry for Ruby and Phil, I know I've lost my Auntie but they've lost her Mum and she's only 5"

"I know, which is why they need all the support from us they can get"

Rachel stayed up with Ellie for quite a while and in the end she stopped crying.

"Are you going to come downstairs for a bit?"

"Yeah I will"

Rachel grabbed a tissue from the box and sorted out her daughter's face for her.

"Can you tell I've been crying?"

"No not really, but even if you can it really doesn't matter"

Ellie went downstairs with her Mum and spent the night in with her family.

She was so glad she'd come home, as right now she just wanted to be with her Mum. She loved spending time with her friends but when she was upset there was no-one that could make her feel better the way her Mum could.

No-one stayed up that late as it had been a long day so everyone was tired.

Once Rachel had said goodnight to her daughters and Phil she went in and checked on Ruby.

When she went in there Ruby was all sweaty and it looked as though she wasn't having a very nice dream.

When Ruby started screaming in her sleep Rachel went over and woke her up.

"Ruby it's okay it was just a dream, look you're here with Auntie Rachel, you're nice and safe my love"

Ruby woke up and when she realised everything was okay and it was just a dream she got out of bed and came and sat on Rachel's lap.

"I was dreaming Mark was about to hurt me again" Ruby sobbed

"He's never going to hurt you again, ever, I promise. We're going to get this sorted Ruby because what he did to you was very, very bad"

"Did he do it because I was naughty?"

"No Ruby it wasn't your fault. I'm afraid there are some not very nice people around, and nice people like us will never understand why they do the things they do. But don't ever think it was your fault my love, because it wasn't. You didn't do anything wrong"

Ruby was feeling really sleepy again so Rachel put her back into bed and tucked her in again, it didn't take long for Ruby to drop off to sleep.

Rachel then went back to her own bedroom to get ready for bed.

"Was Ruby alright?" Chris asked as Rachel got into bed

"She was having a bad dream, about Mark" Rachel told him

"Poor girl"

"I know, I should have picked up something was wrong. In the last few months I've barely seen them and Ruby has seemed quiet"

"Rach, you couldn't have known. Men like Mark are clever they know how to not get caught. I mean if Mel didn't even pick up on it, how would you have?"

"I suppose, I just wish she'd told me. I would have believed her, unlike Mel"

"At least you know now"

"I know"

Rachel and Chris talked for a bit longer before turning the light off to go to sleep.

Although it took Rachel ages to fall asleep as she had loads on her mind, once she did go to sleep she slept right through until the next morning.

The next morning Rachel took Ruby down to the police station, and it was horrible making Ruby tell someone about it all over again.

Once they'd finished Rachel was told this wasn't the first time and he was on a final warning so he'd be going back to prison again.

Rachel was so relieved that it was all over for Ruby. She hoped now that Ruby would be able to forget all about it. After all she was still young so she hoped that it would become very distant in her mind.

After they'd been to the police station Rachel took Ruby to the park just the two of them, thinking it would do her good to be out in the fresh air.

They fed the ducks, and Ruby played in the park and they ended up having a really nice couple of hours together.

It was the happiest Rachel had been and the happiest Rachel had seen Ruby in a while, so she hoped that this was the start of them moving on.

Please review xxx


	6. Chapter 6

It was early on a Saturday morning and supposedly meant to be a really hot day so Rachel and Chris had decided to take the kids out for the day.

Rachel wanted to go to one of her favourite places, down by the river where they could ride their bikes, have a BBQ and swim in the river if they wanted to.

Rachel was down in the kitchen packing up food for the BBQ that they were going to have for lunch when Amy walked in to get her breakfast.

She wasn't very happy that she had to work on the nicest day of the year. Really she wanted to be going out with everyone else.

Amy worked as a waitress in a nearby cafe.

She was trying to save up as much money as she could for Uni, because the student loan that she would be getting didn't even cover the cost of her accommodation.

Obviously Rachel and Chris were going to help her out too but Amy wanted to save some money of her own, as much as she hated working in there.

She didn't enjoy it at all, it was really stressful and she couldn't wait to leave now.

Rachel knew how much she didn't like it and was proud of how hard she'd worked over the summer.

"Only a few more weeks and you never have to that cafe again if you don't want to" Rachel said reading her daughter's mind.

"I can't wait""

"I know you can't, what do you want for breakfast?"

"I'm just going to have some satanic"

"I thought you didn't like it anymore"

"I went off it for a while but I'm eating it again now" Amy said going to the cupboard

"I'll get it for you love" Rachel offered

"Thanks Mum" Amy said before sitting at the breakfast bar

Obviously she was quite capable of doing it herself but her Mum did still look after her quite a bit and she knew how much she would miss being around her when she was at Uni.

Rachel sat down and drank her coffee while Amy ate her breafast. Rachel wasn't really one for breakfast but she always tried her best to eat it wanting to set a good example for the kids but she was planning to wait until everyone else was up.

After Amy had eaten her breakfast she went upstairs and packed her bag and put some before leaving for work.

Once she'd gone Rachel decided to wake the others up. Chris was on a bike ride but she thought he'd be back soon and she didn't want to be too late leaving.

Rachel was surprised that Ruby was still asleep as usually she'd be up by 8 but she had had a late night last night as they'd been at some of Rachel and Chris' friend's house for dinner.

Rachel woke Chloe up first and then went into Ellie's bedroom but she found she was already awake and getting ready.

"You''re already up, well done love"

"What time are we leaving today Mum"

"We're aiming to leave at 10" Rachel said although she knew it would probably be later because trying to get so many kids out of the house never was an easy task.

Rachel went in and woke Philip up next and then Ruby.

She was quite sleepy to start with but once she was up she was her usual bubbly self in no time.

Ruby had to rush to the loo but then came back into her bedroom.

"Let's get you dressed, do you want to wear a pair of shorts?"

"No I want to wear a dress"

"But we're going on the bikes, you won't be able to ride properly in a dress, even I'm wearing shorts look"

Eventually Ruby agreed so Rachel got her pretty floral shorts out to go with her pale pink top.

Rachel rubbed her Sun cream in for her and then got her dressed.

"There you go, you're free to do as you want for a bit now"

Rachel went back to her bedroom to pack up a bag .

Chris was in there in just a towel with yourself hair having just got out the shower. Rachel did still find her husband extremely attractive even after 20 years of marriage.

"Like what you see there do you Miss Mason?"

"I'm certainly not complaining, no" Rachel said coming over and giving him a kiss

It didn't laSt long as there bedroom door soon swung open and Chloe was stood behind it

"That is not something I want to see, and especially not first thing on a morning"

"We're in our bedroom and the door was closed, anyway what was it you wanted?"

"You wanted me to give you a bikini to put in your bag, although I don't really see the point there's no way I'll be going in the river it's always bloody freezing"

"It's better to have it just in case" Rachel said taking the bikini from her daughter and putting it into her big bag

Once everyone was ready and had breakfast they got into the cars ready to leave.

It only took about half an hour to get there but that seemed like a lot longer with Ruby's continuous questions and Chloe's horrendous music playing (in Rachel's ears anyway)

"We've let you have your music on, now we,'ll just listen to the radio for the last bit of the journey" Rachel said before unplugging Chloe's phone

Chloe rolled her eyes but didn't put up a fuss.

When they got there Rachel had to go straight to the loo with Ruby who had apparently been desperate for the best part of the journey.

When they returned to the car all the bikes were off so Rachel quickly checked everyone had Sun cream on and then they headed to the bike trail.

Ruby had only been riding her bike for a months without stabilizers so Rachel knew she'd probably have to go quite slowly with her, but luckily the route was completely flat.

They started the bike ride and it was really pretty with the Sun shining through the trees.

Although it was a bit of a hassle taking the bikes, they all loved it when they were out and Rachel didn't know why they didn't make the effort more often.

Amy would've loved it too if she was here.

They'd been riding for about 20 minutes when Ruby nearly crashed into a dog coming the other way, causing her to loose balance and fall off her bike.

Rachel got off her bike as quickly as she could and rushed over to Ruby.

"Chris Ruby's fallen off her bike" Rachel shouted

He only just heard because he was a little way ahead

The others all cycled back to check Ruby was okay.

Rachel had Ruby sat on her knee.

She was crying quite a lot but from shock more than anything. She had a few grazed on her knees and the her hands but nothing too serious luckily.

"Do you want to go ?" Rachel asked her

Ruby have a of her head feeling quite sorry for herself.

"We're going to turn but you lot can carry on"

Chris went on cycling with the others but Rachel and Ruby took a slow cycle back to the car park.

They put their bikes back before going into the park. Ruby had forgotten all about her little accident by now.

Rachel watched Ruby play until the others got back. They weren't too much longer because it was getting really hot and no-one really felt like riding when it was so hot.

Once the bikes were back on the cars they went over to the big green area.

The kids all started to play some ball games so Rachel and Chris took the opportunity to sit down for a bit just the two of them.

Ruby had been having so much fun playing ping pong with Phil that she hadn't realised that she needed to go to the toilet really bad.

She ran back to Rachel and Chris really quickly.

"Auntie Rachel I really need to go to the toilet"

Rachel sensed the urgency so got up straight away and the two of them went immediately.

Chloe heard Ruby and decided she needed to go too so quickly caught the two of them up.

"How come you left it so long Ruby?"

"I didn't realise I was so desperate because I was having fun"

They got to the toilets and Chloe and Ruby both went inside, Rachel decided she may as well go while they were there too.

When Chloe was on the loo she realised she'd her period. Even though she'd started her periods a couple of years ago now she still wasn't regular which she found really annoying.

She was planning to go in the river so she hoped her Mum would have some tampons with her.

Chloe came out where Rachel was already washing her hands.

"Mum" Chloe said looking around to make sure there was no-one else in the toilets "have you got any tampons with you?"

"No I don't, sorry"

"Have you got any pads then?"

"No, I know I normally carry stuff around with me but I haven't brought my bag with me, have you ?"

"Yeah" Chloe said sounding Fed up

"We can nip to the shops then to buy some"

"No it's fine you don't have to, I'll just use toilet roll or something"

"You don't want to be uncomfortable for the rest of the day, it won't take long"

Rachel realised Ruby had been in for quite a while so wondered if she hadn't got there in time.

"Do you want to go on back love?" Rachel said to Chloe

Chloe left so Rachel went over to the cubicle Ruby was in.

"Are you okay in there Ruby"

"Yes"

"Have you had an accident?"

"No"

"Are you sure because it doesn't matter if you have, I've brought spare clothes for you in the bag"

"I haven't, I'm still on the toilet"

"Oh sorry love"

Ruby came out a couple of minutes later and washed her hands before the two of them went back to join the others.

"Me and Chloe are just going to nip to Tesco and pick up some marshmallows that we can do over the BBQ"

The two of them quickly went and when they got back the kids all decided to go in the river for a bit.

Rachel got Ruby changed and when she looked up she saw Ellie still hadn't started to get changed and Rachel could see she was worried about having to get changed in front of everyone.

"I'm just going to go to the toilets to get changed"

"They're all horrible and dirty, you're better off just getting chsnged here I'll hold a towel around you if you like" Rachel said knowing how self-concious Ellie was starting to get.

Kellie was still a bit unsure but in the end managed to put her bikini on with Rachel holding the towel around her.

Everyone went in the river to swim apart from Rachel who took the opportunity to read her book.

Rachel noticed Ruby was starting to shiver so decided it was time for her to get out. She found her towel and then went down to the river.

Putting her feet in was bad enough so Rachel didn't know how the others had managed to get their in, especially when they didn't have wetsuits on.

"Ruby I think you need to get out love,you're absolutely freezing"

"No I don't want to get out yet" Ruby protested.

"You're shivering"

"I'm not getting out until everyone else gets out"

The others had had enough by now anyway so decided to get out as well.

wrapped a towel around Ruby who was shivering loads and had blue lips.

Chris decided to get the BBQ going whilst Rachel sat cuddling Ruby trying to get her warmed up.

"Auntie Rachel"

"Yes Ruby"

"What are we having for tea?"

"We haven't even had lunch yet" Rachel said laughing

"But what are we having?" Ruby persisted she always did like what was going on

"We won't have much because it's 2 now and we'll probably eat lots now so how does spaghetti on toast sound?"

"Yummy"

"Good"

Chris had a lot of trouble lighting the disposable ABBas that Rachel had bought and it was Philip that managed to get them lot in the end

"Lucky you're here Phil or we'd have ended up with chips from the cafe"

"I'm so hungry" Ellie moaned

"When are you not hungry?"

The food was nearly cooked so Rachel started cutting the bread rolls.

"Food's ready" Chris shouted and the kids were all there in a flash

They sat down on the picnic blankets to eat all enjoying the last days of freedom before it was back to school.

After they'd eaten they had a game of frisbee, even Rachel joined in this time.

At work Amy wasn't having nearly as good a day.

The only thing getting her through was the thought of some of her friends coming over tonight to go in the hot tub they'd recently got.

Amy was meant to finish work at 4 but it was 4:15 by the time she actually left.

She walked outside and the Sun hit her. Amy got her sunglasses out of her bag and put before going back to her car looking forward to getting out of the black clothes she was wearing.

Amy drove home and when she got there she realised she was the only one. Just as she walked through the door Amy got a text from her Mum saying they were just about to leave.

Amy went straight up to her bedroom and got her work clothes off.

She decided to have a quick shower and then she put her with a pair of shorts and a crop top on over the top.

Amy then grabbed her book and went out in the garden to get a bit of Sun, she was so relieved to have finished work for the day, she was really tired from it though and ended up falling asleep.

She was still sleeping when the others got home.

Rachel found her daughter sleeping but she decided to wake her up as she was in direct sunlight and it was more than likely that she wouldn't have Sun cream on.

"I think I must have fallen asleep" Amy said when she opened her eyes and saw Rachel and Ruby stood there

"Me and Ruby think so too judging by the fact you were snoring your head off"

"Was I really?"

"No I'm only teasing you"

Amy played n the garden for a bit with Ruby whilst Rachel got everything unpacked.

Once Rachel had everything unpacked she had a shower before deciding to get Ruby bathed.

She ran a bath for Ruby before calling her up.

Ruby came running up the stairs and into the bathroom.

"How on earth have you got so wet?"

"We were having a water fight and the Chloe got a bucket of water and tipped it over me just before you told me to come in"

"Right so now the carpets will have a trail of water on them I suppose"

"Sorry Auntie Rachel"

"It was only water, it will dry anyway get those wet clothes off and jump in"

Ruby did as her Auntie said and then started playing in the bath. She was getting a lot better but night times still weren't great.

She hoped Ruby would start being able to sleep through the night again or she would be tired when she was back at school if she couldn't lie in on a morning.

Rachel let her play for a bit before washing her hair and then getting her out.

"Are you hungry yet?"

"I'm starving"

"Let's get you sorted and then I'll get you "

Rachel sat at the table with Ruby whilst she ate her spaghetti on toast and Amy had some too. No-one else was hungry yet.

"What time are the girls coming over?"

"About 7"

"Is anyone driving home tonight?"

"No everyone's staying over apart from Molly. Her Mum's picking her up at 11 because she's working tomorrow. Why?"

"I was just wondering that's all"

Once they'd eaten Amy went up to her bedroom and Rachel and Ruby went into the lounge where the others had a film on"

It wasn't long before Amy's friends had come. It was going to be the last time they all got together before Uni so even though Amy was looking forward to the evening she wasn't looking forward to it ending.

"Shall we go straight in the hot tub? It's all ready" Amy said

They went outside with their towels and took their clothes off before getting in.

"You're so lucky having a hot tub" one of Amy's friends said

"Trust Mum and Dad to get it when I'm about to move out"

"How come they bought it anyway?"

" was Dad wh got it actually, he bought it without telling Mum which she wasn't too happy about but she soon changed her mind once she'd been in"

"I'm not surprised"

The 're chatting away when Rachel came outside with a tray with glasses of prosecco on"

"What's this for Mum?"

"It was on offer earlier when I was in Tesco and I thought of you girls"

"Thanks Mum" Amy said taking a glass off the tray

Rachel left again leaving the girls to it.

"Your Mum's Amy, I wish mine was like yours"

"I'm sure you don't, living with your head teacher can be extremely annoying at times"

"Well she's not your head teacher anymore, we're off to Uni now"

The girls were all really excited about going too.

Their conversation soon turned to Uni after that.

"Are you going to the pill Amy?"

"I hadn't really thought about it to be honest, why?"

"Well don't you think you should you know just in case"

Amy realised she was the only one there not on some contraception, but she hadn't been before so didn't really see why that needed to change now.

"I' planning on sleeping anything like that so 't really need to do.I?"

"Well surely it's better to be safe than sorry"

Amy wasn't a virgin, she'd had sex in year 11 with her boyfriend. But they broke up before they started their GCSE exams so she hadn't had sex since. Since then lots of her friends had gone on the pill but she'd never even considered it.

" " Amy said thinking about what her friends had said and starting to wonder if maybe she should go on the pill.

Rachel came out a bit later and topped up their glasses. They were planning on making cocktails later and just having a really girly night, like they used to do all the time.

Rachel saw the time and realised it was time to get Ruby to bed so took the little girl upstairs to the bathroom.

Ruby cleaned her teeth and went for a wee before going to her bedroom.

She picked up her hairbrush and started brushing her hair.

"What are you doing Ruby?" Rachel asked knowing she was trying to put off having to go to bed.

"Brushing my hair"

"Yes I can see that, but what I why aren't you in bed?"

"I need to brush my hair because it's all gangly"

"No it's not, into bed please"

"Fine" Ruby said before putting the hairbrush down and getting into bed.

"Have you locked the door?"

"Yes"

Ruby had got into a habit of asking this before she went to bed and couldn't get to she knew the door .

Ruby laid down so Rachel got her comfy and then sat with her for.a bit.

"Night night my love" Rachel whispered before kissing Ruby goodnight and getting up.

Ruby was nearly asleep so didn't reply.

Rachel's went downstairs and joined the others who were watching X Factor.

After they'd had enough in the hot tub they went straight inside. Despite it being a really nice day it had turned really the evening.

Amy let her friends have showers. It didn't take long because there were three to use.

Once they were all in their pyjamas they went back downstairs.

Rachel was in there getting some nibble bits together for their tea.

"Thanks for the bubbles Mum"

"That's okay darling, there's in the fridge. What are you up to now?"

"We're going to make some cocktails"

"Are you now? Well I just made your Dad and me a gin and tonic so I know how much alcohol we've got in the cupboard" Rachel said knowing her daughter could get a bit carried away sometimes

"Don't worry we won't have too much" Amy said smiling, her Mum didn't know that her friends had brought drink them too.

Once Rachel left Amy got a couple of jugs out for them to make the .

They had a lot of fun creating their own cocktails and they ended up tasting really nice.

Amy in for Rachel and Chris for them to try and even they thought it tasted nice.

Amy went the kitchen and joined her friends at the table, they were planning on playing some drinking games.

They were having a great night but Amy noticed her friend, Caitlin, was being quite quiet and not really her usual self.

"I'm just going to the loo" Caitlin said

Amy left it a minute before saying she was nipping upstairs.

She hadn't realised quite how tipsy she was until she stood up and tried to walk.

Amy went into her bedroom and saw her entire suite door was shut so presumed Caitlin had gone in there.

When Caitlin came out Amy went to her wardrobe to make it look like she'd come up to put a hoodie on.

"Are you okay Caitlin? You seem a bit quiet"

"Yeah I'm fine thank you"

"You seem like you've got something on your mind"

"I' thinking about Jordan"

Jordan was Caitlin's boyfriend and they'd been together for about a year.

"What about him?"

"If we're going to work through Uni, with me being in Edinburgh and the way down in Exeter I just don't know if we'll be able to do it"

"As long as you want to make it work I'm sure you can"

"That's the thing I don't know if I want it to"

"What do you mean?"

"I think I want to start fresh at Uni, I' be worrying about whether he's got with other Exeter. We really are going to be so far apart, nearly opposite ends of the country"

"So do you think you're going to break up with him?"

"I think I am" Caitlin said realising that's what she wanted to do after talking it through with Amy

"Just make sure it's what you definitely want before you do something you regret"

"Don't worry I will. Thanks Amy"

"I didn't really do anything"

"Yes you did, I' to miss you so much Amy"

"I'm going to miss you too, we can still talk all the time though just not in person"

"It's going to be so weird"

"I know we're all going to be in different places"

The girls talked for a bit longer before going back down to join the others.

"What've you two been doing? You were ages"

"Just talking"

Caitlin seemed a lot happier after her conversation with Amy and was enjoying the night a lot more.

Molly got picked up at 11 and when she'd gone the girls decided to put a film on. They were sleeping in the lounge so went in there.

Rachel and Chris were still watching the TV in there but sid they were going up to bed now anyway.

Rachel said goodnight to her daughter before going up to bed. She checked on all of the kids before going into her bedroom just like she did every night.

She was pleased to see that Ruby was sound asleep and she looked peaceful.

Rachel got ready for bed before climbing in next to her husband.

She dropped off quite quickly snuggled into Chris but she woke up in the the night and couldn't stop coughing so she had to go downstairs to get a glass of water.

When she got down there she found Chloenin the kitchen filling up a hot water bottle.

"Is your stomach hurting love?"

"Yeah" Chloe sighed

"You should've woken me, I'd have filled it up for you"

"I didn't want to wake you"

"I wouldn't have minded"

Once Rachel had got her water and Chloe had filled up her hot water bottle they both went back to bed andslept through until the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry about the quality of my last update, had to write it on my kindle which was really difficult and I was rushing so didn't check through it. Also I started writing this a while ago but haven't had chance to finish it until this morning so apologies for the delay.**

The end of the summer holidays had arrived so it was back to the usual morning getting ready for school.

Chloe was actually quite looking forward to going back, she always quite liked the first day back but she knew this would soon change once she was actually back.

It was Ellie's first day at Waterloo Road and although she was excited about starting secondary school she was also quite anxious about going to a bigger school with lots of people. She'd loved primary school so had been sad to leave, but now she was feeling ready to go to Waterloo Road.

Rachel was rushing around trying to get everything sorted, having two more kids in the house was making it a lot more stressful than usual especially when you had a little 5 year old to get ready.

Rachel was in the middle of brushing of Ruby's hair which wasn't easy when she kept trying to pull away.

"Ow, you're hurting me" Ruby said who seemed to be feeling reluctant to go back to school.

"I wouldn't if you stayed still, come on I'm nearly done"

Rachel finished brushing Ruby's hair before putting the top half of it into a French plait. She didn't really have time for it but when Rachel picked up on the fact Ruby was feeling anxious about going back to school she promised to do her hair however she liked.

"There you go all done, do you like it?"

"Yes thank you, Auntie Rachel do I definitely have to go to school today? Can't I just stay with you for one more day?"

"I'm not allowed to let you stay off school for no reason, why don't you want to go?"

"I just don't"

"Are you sure there's nothing you're worried about? Because if you tell me I might be able to help you"

"There's nothing"

"Well make sure you tell me if there is, won't you?"

"I will"

"Anyway I'm going to go and get stuff out for breakfast"

Rachel went down and got it ready before shouting them down.

Ruby was already in the kitchen and it wasn't long before Phil was down too but there was still no sign of Chloe or Ellie. Amy was still in bed and Chris had left for work.

"Chloe, Ellie breakfast"

Chloe materialised. Rachel happened to turn around as soon as she walked into the kitchen so noticed the length of her skirt at once.

"That skirts way too short pull it down now"

"It's not that short"

"We're tightening up on uniform this year so there's no way you'll get away with it"

"You say the same every year, but give it to the end of the month and none of the teachers will care anyway for another few months when you go strict again for a few days. It's always the same Mum"

"Well this year it's going to be different and there's no way I'm letting you leave the house wearing a skirt that I could see your knickers in if it was an inch shorter"

"No you couldn't"

"I could if you wore knickers that actually covered you"

"Mum you don't need to discuss the size of my knickers in front of everyone"

"Sorry love, but pull your skirt down a bit will you?"

"Fine" Chloe said

She did as her Mum said before sitting down at the table

A few minutes later Ellie came down when everyone was already eating at the table.

Rachel was shocked to see Ellie's face. Chloe had to try really hard not to laugh when she saw not wanting to upset Ellie. Even Phil was a bit surprised to see how different Ellie looked now that she'd covered her face in makeup.

Ellie sat down, she couldn't help but feel that everyone was looking at her which was making her feel self-conscious. Rachel didn't say anything for the minute deciding to wait until Ellie had eaten to have a little word with her.

Once breakfast was done Rachel gave dinner money to Chloe, Ellie and Phil.

"Ellie can I have a quick word upstairs love?"

"Why?"

"I'll tell you in a minute"

Ellie went upstairs with her Mum wondering what it was she wanted to talk to her about.

"Let's go into my bedroom" Rachel said smiling

When they got in there Ellie sat down on her Mum's bed and Rachel closed the door behind them.

"Now then" Rachel said sitting down on the bed next to Ellie "I think you might have gone a bit over the top on the makeup"

Ellie started to blush when she heard Rachel say this, she had hoped no-one would notice that she was wearing makeup.

"Have I?"

"If you go from wearing no makeup at all to having a full face then it's obviously going to make you look very different and I really don't think you need to, you're beautiful as you are"

"I bet all the other girls will be wearing loads of makeup like Chloe does"

"Not in year 7 my love, but you're right lots of girls do wear loads of makeup some of them even more than Chloe but not until they get older. How about I take it off for you?"

"Okay then"

Rachel went into her bathroom and got a makeup wipe out before coming back to wipe it off. Ellie really hadn't done a very good job anyway, her skin looked very orange and blotchy and the eye liner she put on hadn't gone well at all.

"Are you going to take it all off?" Ellie asked and Rachel nodded

Rachel realised Ellie probably wanted to feel a bit more grown up so when she'd done she went over to her dressing table and started rooting through her drawers.

"What are you doing Mum?"

"I've got a mascara in here that I haven't opened yet, so you can have that if you want"

"And wear it to school?"

"Yeah I don't think wearing a bit of mascara will hurt, but I really don't think you need to wear foundation or anything like that yet there's no need"

"Thanks Mum"

Ellie sat down at her Mum's dressing table and put the mascara on. She looked a little bit older but really pretty too.

Rachel looked at her watch and saw that they needed to be leaving soon.

"Are you nearly ready to go?"

"I think so, my bag feels really empty all I have in there in my pencil case and purse. Do I need anything else?"

"I don't think so, it won't stay that way for long though you'll soon be moaning you've got too many books in your bag"

"Do I need to bring my PE kit in?"

"I wouldn't bother with that"

"What if I have PE today though?"

"I'm sure the teachers won't mind on the first day"

Rachel rounded everyone up before getting into the car.

They drove to Ruby's primary school first to drop her off.

Rachel parked the car before walking Ruby up to the gate. Ruby was holding on really tightly.

When they got to the gate Rachel tried to let go but Ruby kept holding on.

"Have a good day at school love and I'll pick you up at the end of the day okay?"

"I don't want to go in Auntie Rachel"

"But you have to, are you sure there's nothing worrying you?"

"There's nothing, I just want to stay with you"

"I'll walk you to your classroom door but then I've got to go to my school okay?"

Rachel walked Ruby over to her new classroom where her new teacher, Miss Middleton, was stood.

"Hi Ruby, are you going to come in?" Miss Middleton asked Ruby who was now stood slightly behind Rachel and holding onto her leg

"No I don't want to" Ruby said with tears filling in her eyes

"I'd really like you to come in though because I've got lots of fun games for us to play today and look how bare all of the walls are, we need to start making the displays"

Ruby stood rooted to the spot she was on, determined not to go into the classroom.

Miss Middleton took hold of Ruby's hand and tried to ease her away from Rachel.

Rachel helped and in the end they got Ruby into the classroom but she was crying quite a bit.

"Have a good Ruby, and I'll be here at 3:15 to pick you up" Rachel said having to hold back her own tears

Rachel knew the best thing she could do was leave, so she left Ruby in the hands of her teacher and walked off. She could hear Ruby screaming which was making her feel awful.

Rachel let a few tears fall feeling so bad for leaving Ruby when she was so upset, but composed herself before getting back into the car.

She drove the other three to Waterloo Road.

Chloe and Phil went straight off to find their friends but Ellie stayed with Rachel.

"I don't know where to go Mum"

"I'll take you to the year 7 and 8 area, you'll be able to find your friends there"

As soon as Ellie saw one of her friends stood with a few other girls she'd never seen before she said goodbye to Rachel before going straight over.

Now that Ellie seemed happy Rachel made her way up to her office to get ready for her morning of assemblies.

She was doing the year 7 one first which she was looking forward to, welcoming them all into her school.

The bell for registration went and the year 7s were meant to be making their way straight to the hall so Rachel went down too.

She passed her daughter on the way and was pleased to see her chatting and laughing seeming very happy. Rachel didn't speak to her though as she knew Ellie wouldn't want any special treatment.

Rachel did the assembly and then the tutors started to read out the names of the people in their tutor groups.

Ellie was really hoping to be in with her best friend Jen so was disappointed when Jen's name was read out on Miss Haydock's register but she wasn't. Ellie had to try really hard not to cry.

Jen waved sadly to Ellie as she went off with her tutor group.

Ellie's name was read out on the next register and she wasn't with anyone she knew other than one girl from her primary school, but she didn't really like her and they weren't really friends.

Now Ellie really did want to cry but she didn't want to show herself up so asked her tutor if she could go to the toilet.

She was told to wait until she knew where her form room was so she held back her tears until she was eventually allowed to go to the loo.

As soon as she was in the toilet Ellie had a cry, not liking being at Waterloo Road and wishing she could be back at Primary school.

Ellie was still feeling upset but she wiped her eyes before going to her tutor room.

They were meant to be spending the morning with their tutor groups and then after lunch it was team building activities as a whole year.

Ellie was sitting with a few girls but she wasn't really talking or making an effort to make friends. She just wanted to be in the same tutor group as Jen or at least one of her friends.

At break time everyone was making their way outside but Ellie didn't feel like being with her year even if she could've found her friends.

Instead she walked off in the other direction and came across a little garden. There was no-one there so she went and sat down on the bench.

Rachel was walking around at break time chatting to the new year 7s and seeing how they were all settling in.

She was trying not to look for Ellie but she couldn't help it. When she couldn't see her she went and asked Jen if she knew where she was.

"I was looking for her too Rachel, I haven't seen her since the assembly"

When the end of break came and there was still no sign of Ellie Rachel decided to have a little look for her daughter.

Ellie heard the bell go and she really didn't want to go back to her tutor base but she was too scared not to.

She left it as long as she possibly could but she realised she really needed to go now.

Ellie was just about to get up, when she saw her Mum walking across the field and Rachel had seen her now so she decided to stay there when she saw her Mum walking towards her.

Rachel came and sat down on the bench next to Ellie.

"What are you doing over here on your own love? Why aren't you with your friends?"

This was all it took for Ellie to burst into tears.

"Hey what's wrong El?" Rachel asked placing her hand on her daughter's back

"I want to go back to primary school" Ellie blurted out

"How come? When I saw you this morning you looked like you were having a great time, you were laughing and smiling"

"I hate my tutor group, there's no-one I know expect from Maddie and I don't like her anyway. I wanted to be with Jen"

Rachel knew that the transition from primary school to secondary school could be quite hard for a lot of pupils and Rachel always did as much as she could to help them feel happy and comfortable.

"I'm sure you'll soon make friends with the others in your tutor group"

"But I don't like it, everyone else seems to be with their friends from primary school so I feel really left out"

Rachel had nothing to do with sorting out tutor groups so hadn't looked through the registers to see what tutor group her daughter was in.

"Do you want me to see if I can get you changed into the same tutor group as Jen?"

Ellie nodded her head.

"But what if people think that I'm getting special treatment because I'm your daughter?"

"I would do the same whether you were my daughter or not, I've done it with lots of year 7s before. Let's go up to my office and I'll see what I can do"

Ellie and Rachel both went up to the office. Ellie sat down on the sofa and Rachel got her a tissue out of the box she kept in her drawer and passed it to her daughter so that she could dry her tears.

Rachel then phoned Kim to see if she was available to come up.

Luckily Kim had a free period so came straight up to Rachel's office.

Ellie sat timidly on the sofa while Rachel and Kim sorted it out.

Kim didn't have a problem with changing Ellie's tutor group for her and so once Ellie had her new timetable Rachel took her to Miss Haydock's room.

Rachel knocked on the door and waited. Steph saw her stood there so made her way out.

Steph and Ellie had met a few times before so knew who each other were.

"Hiya, is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, I have a new member for your tutor group"

"Come on in Ellie, grab a chair we're just playing some… what was it Kim called them… getting to know each other games"

Ellie made her way into the classroom with Steph. She was feeling quite shy and felt like everyone was looking at her.

She was pleased when Steph got her a chair and put it right next to Jen.

Ellie was so much happier now and was able to enjoy the rest of the morning. By lunchtime her and Jen had been talking to two girls from another primary school and they were getting on really well and all sat together to have their lunch.

Rachel was really busy at lunchtime and was eating her sandwich whilst getting on with her work.

She was engrossed in writing a letter to go out to parents when her mobile phone started ringing.

Rachel saw it was Ruby's primary school so she started thinking the worse and presumed they hadn't managed to calm Ruby down. The last thing Rachel needed was to have to come out of work now to pick Ruby up.

"Hi Rachel, it's Miss Middleton"

"Has Ruby still not settled?"

"Yes Ruby's fine now. I was just ringing to let you know that she's completely fine and happy now. It took a little while but once she stopped crying and we sat her with her friends she was fine"

"Oh that's great, thank you for letting me know"

"I knew you'd probably be worrying, so I thought I'd put your mind to rest"

"Yeah she's been on my mind all day, I really do appreciate you letting me know"

"It's no problem at all, anyway I'll let you get back to work I'm sure you've got a million things to do on the first day back"

Rachel put the phone down feeling relieved that Ruby had settled. At least that was one less thing she had to worry about.

The rest of the day went by quite quickly and 3 o clock soon came around.

Rachel had come to an agreement with the LEA that she could leave at 3 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and on a Tuesday and Thursday when she'd need to stay until later Ruby was going to Chris's parents' house.

Rachel packed all of her stuff up and drove round to Ruby's primary school.

Ruby was really happy to see her Auntie and ran straight out as soon as Miss Middleton called her name. She started telling Rachel about all the things she'd done at school as the two of them walked back to the car.

"I'm glad you've had a good day love"

When they got in Ruby went straight up to her room to change out of her uniform.

Rachel went in and spoke to Amy who was making tea for everyone.

"It smells good in here" Rachel said coming into the kitchen

"Good" Amy said turning around to face her Mum

"Have you had a good day?"

"Yeah good thanks, have you?"

"Busy, but it's good to be back in a way. I'm just going to nip up to get changed"

Rachel got changed out of her work clothes before going to check on Ruby.

When she went in Ruby was playing with some of her Polly Pocket stuff.

"I'm going to go to Tesco now, do you want to come with me or shall I ask Amy if you can stay with her?"

"Stay with Amy"

Rachel came out of Ruby's bedroom and when she did she passed Amy who was on her way up to her own bedroom.

"I'm going to Tesco love. Ruby wants to stay here with you, I'll only be an hour or so"

"Well I'm on my way out"

"Oh where are you going?"

"I've just got to do something"

"What?"

"I don't have to run every single thing I do by you Mum, I'm moving out next week remember?" Amy snapped

"Sorry love, I was just wondering that's all"

"Sorry I don't know why I snapped. I'll be back in half an hour probably if you can wait until then?"

"I'll just wait for Chloe to get back, she probably won't be too much longer"

Amy went upstairs to freshen up a little bit and grab her bag she then made her way out to her car.

She hadn't meant to snap at her Mum, she just didn't want to tell her about where she was going.

Amy had a doctor's appointment because she was going to see about going on the pill but she felt too embarrassed to speak to Rachel about it.

Now that she was at the doctor's surgery she was actually feeling quite nervous and kind of wished she'd asked her Mum to come. She never usually came to the doctors on her own.

Amy signed in and then took a seat. She picked up a magazine and started to read it but she couldn't read it. She had really bad butterflies because she was feeling nervous and she couldn't keep her legs still.

The longer Amy had to wait the more nervous she was getting.

In the end she decided she didn't want to go in on her own and told the receptionist she was going to have to reschedule before rushing out.

Amy felt really stupid. She was leaving for Uni next week and she couldn't even go to the doctors on her own.

Once Amy got home she went and sat with Ruby while she did some drawing. Rachel was still shopping and apparently Chloe had just nipped upstairs.

Rachel came back about half an hour later so Amy helped her to unpack the shopping.

Ruby went to the playroom to play so it was just Amy and Rachel left.

"Mum"

"Yes love"

"You know earlier when I wouldn't tell you where I was going, well I had a doctor's appointment"

"Oh okay, what did you have an appointment for"

"Erm… well I was thinking about going on the pill" Amy said feeling quite embarrassed

"Right" Rachel said but really she wasn't that surprised, Amy was 18 after all "so are you on the pill now then?"

"No I couldn't go in on my own, I wanted you there" Amy said with tears in her eyes. She'd been getting really emotional at the thought of going away and leaving her Mum and all of her friends

"Oh love" Rachel said coming over to her daughter and wrapping her arms around her

Amy put her head against her Mum's and gave her a hug.

"How about you make another appointment then and then I'll go with you?"

"Okay"

"How come you didn't just tell me about it in the first place?"

"It's just embarrassing, I thought you'd think I was going on it because I'm planning to sleep with loads of boys at Uni. But I'm not, I just thought it would be good you know just in case"

"It will help to regulate your periods too" Rachel said, quite often Amy's periods would end up being really irregular when she was stressed so after two years of A-levels this was often the case

"Yeah exactly that's what I was thinking"

"Just let me know when your appointment is and we can get it sorted together then darling"

"Thanks Mum"

Amy felt a lot better after speaking to her Mum about it and didn't know why she hadn't just done this in the first place.

Please review xxx


	8. Chapter 8

It was the evening before Amy was leaving to go to University and they'd just got back from saying goodbye to Chris's parents.

Amy was so excited about going but she was also starting to feel quite nervous.

Once they got back Amy went upstairs to do the last bit of her packing and Rachel came up to help her.

"How are you feeling about tomorrow?"

"Nervous"

"I think you're bound to be, it's a really big thing you're love"

"I've been looking forward to it for so long but now I don't know if I feel ready"

Amy could feel herself starting to cry so looked away from her Mum but Rachel was quick to notice.

"Hey come here love" Rachel said before taking her daughter in for a hug

Amy let herself cry for a bit but then stopped. Rachel too was welling up now.

"Everything is going to be absolutely fine love, I promise"

"I just want to get up there now"

"That's understandable, this time tomorrow you will be probably getting ready to go out"

Once they had everything sorted Rachel and Amy went back downstairs and spent one last evening as a family in front of the TV.

Amy was getting really nervous and just wanted to get going now.

At about 10 she went up to bed, but once she was in bed she couldn't get to sleep.

It was midnight and Amy still hadn't gone to sleep but she saw light starting to come into her bedroom and when she looked up she saw her bedroom door was being opened.

"Amy" Ruby said quietly

Amy realised it was her cousin so sat up in bed and switched the lamp on.

"Are you okay Ruby?"

"Please can I come in for a cuddle?"

"Of course you can"

Amy pulled the covers back for Ruby and she got into bed beside her cousin.

"What are you doing awake at this time? It's gone midnight"

"I woke up and I remembered you were leaving tomorrow and I don't want you to go"

"Oh Rubs" Amy said cuddling up to her cousin "I'm not going to be that far away, and I know you won't see me as much anymore but you'll definitely still see me sometimes?"

"Do you promise?"

"Of course I promise"

"I will miss you though"

"Aw Ruby I'll miss you too, so much" Amy said which was true, she was going to miss them all loads

Ruby ended up falling asleep in Amy's bed so when Amy's alarm went off the next morning she got out of bed as quietly as she could trying not to wake her.

Amy went to the loo and then put her dressing gown on before going downstairs.

Rachel was down there already making coffees to take up for her and Chris.

"Morning love"

"Morning"

"Do you want a coffee?"

"Yeah that would be nice please"

They took the coffees upstairs and Amy sat at the end of her Mum and Dad's bed.

It felt so weird knowing that it would be quite a while before she would be able to do this again.

"Anyway I'm going to jump in the shower" Rachel said

"Yeah me too" Amy replied

Amy went back to her room where she found Ruby awake now.

"Are you leaving now Amy?"

"No not yet I'm still in my pyjamas, I'm going to have a shower now though"

"Okay"

Ruby decided to go in for a cuddle with Rachel just like she did most mornings as soon as she got up.

However when she got in there no-one was in bed as Chris had gone downstairs now.

Ruby decided to get into Rachel's bed anyway but she soon realised she needed a wee so got out again and went into Rachel's en suite.

Rachel was still in the shower when she saw Ruby come in.

"Ruby what are you doing in here?" Rachel sighed, she never seemed to be able to manage to get even 10 minutes to herself

"I need a wee"

"Go on then" Rachel said

Once she'd been Ruby went back into Rachel's bed.

Once Rachel had finished in the shower she turned it off and wrapped a towel around herself before brushing her teeth and then going into see Ruby.

"Did you sleep okay love?"

"Yes I slept in with Amy"

"Oh did you, how come?"

"I woke up and went to see her and she said I could come in for a cuddle but then I fell asleep"

Rachel gave Ruby a quick cuddle before getting ready.

Once she was dressed and had dried her hair Rachel went with Ruby to get her dressed.

Once Ruby was dressed Rachel went back and straightened her hair and put makeup on before going downstairs.

Amy was down there, she was ready now too.

"Right, I'm going to take the others to Grandma and Grandad's and then we'll load the car up shall we?"

"Okay sounds good"

Amy was really excited to get there now and get settled in and meet her flat mates.

"Chloe, Ellie, Phil, Ruby time to go" Rachel called up the stairs

A few minutes later they were all downstairs saying goodbye to Amy.

Now that it had come to it Amy was actually finding it really difficult to say goodbye to her sisters. Thee three of them all had a little cry.

Amy picked Ruby up and gave her a cuddle. Ruby started crying as well which made Amy feel even worse.

"Right come on then, it's time to get going" Rachel said

They said their final goodbyes before Rachel left with them.

Chris wrapped his arm around Amy.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine" Chris said knowing his daughter would be likely to worry about them when she was away

"I know, it's just going to be weird"

"It's a big change for all of us, but we'll get used to it"

Once Rachel got back they got the car loaded up. Amy did one last check to make sure she had everything and then the three of them left and headed to York.

The journey seemed to drag but eventually they arrived and went to collect Amy's keys.

It was really busy so it took a while but once they had the keys they drove around to the halls of residence Amy was staying in and got everything unloaded.

When Amy saw her room she was actually pleasantly surprised by the size of it, although the bathroom was tiny. She was just glad she had her own though.

Amy was the first to arrive out of all of her flat mates.

Once everything was out of the car Chris went to move the car to a car park whilst Rachel and Amy made a start on unpacking all of her things.

It wasn't that long before they heard the door opening so Amy went out and saw a girl with her Mum.

"Hi I'm Amy"

"Hello, I'm Abbie" the girl said smiling

Rachel came out and the four of them chatted for a little bit before Amy went back in with Rachel to finish unpacking.

Meeting Abbie had instantly made Amy feel a bit calmer about moving in.

Once they'd unpacked everything in the bedroom they unloaded the kitchen stuff.

Chris managed to put up the things Amy had for her walls and her fairy lights. Amy then came in and put all of her photos up and by the time they'd finished it was looking really good, so much better than the bare, empty room that they'd walked into.

It had taken them quite a while so when they were done they went out for a late lunch.

Abbie was still the only one in the flat. Amy was really excited to meet them but realised she'd just have to wait until later now.

"I'm just going out to lunch with my Mum and Dad, but I'll only be a couple of hours"

"Okay see you later, are you going out tonight?"

"Yes definitely, are you?"

"Yes" Amy said smiling

Amy headed into town with Rachel and Chris. They went for lunch in Bella Italia, one of Amy's favourite places.

Amy was really enjoying spending the last couple of hours with her Mum and Dad but she was also quite keen to get back to her flat and start settling in without her Mum and Dad there.

Rachel could tell this was the case so suggested they headed back.

They drove back and went into the flat.

By now all of the others had arrived.

Another girl called Beth and three boys, Liam, Jack and George. All of their parents had gone.

They all seemed quite nice too, but Amy only speak to them briefly because then she went into her room to say goodbye to her parents.

Amy found it really hard to say goodbye and was crying but she knew they just needed to go now.

"Have the best time sweetheart" Rachel said through tears "but just remember we're only a phone call away and if you need us to come up we're only an hour and a half away"

"I know Mum"

"Okay, well we'll go now. Bye sweetheart"

"I love you so much Mum"

"I love you too sweetheart"

Amy gave her Dad a hug.

"Bye Amy"

"Bye Dad"

Amy then walked out to the door with her Mum and Dad, and gave them a final hug and then Rachel and Chris left.

Rachel felt awful leaving her daughter when she was crying, but she knew she would be fine once they were gone.

Amy closed the door feeling quite sad.

She turned around and saw Abbie coming towards her.

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine"

"I know it's horrible, I cried when my Mum left too but I'm fine now"

"Yeah I didn't think I'd find it this hard"

"Shall we get a drink?"

"Sounds perfect" Amy said laughing

Amy wiped her tears away and went into the kitchen. She text her Mum to say she was fine.

Liam was in there too eating some pasta.

"I need to go and buy some alcohol, I didn't bring any with me for some reason" Abbie said

"I've got a massive bottle of vodka in my room that my Mum and Dad bought me, you can share with me"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah that's fine"

"You're so lucky, there's no way my Mum would have done that for me, she still doesn't think I should be drinking"

Amy went and got the vodka from her room and brought it out.

"Do you want any Liam?" Amy asked

"I don't drink"

"Oh right, are you coming out still tonight?"

"I never go out"

"Oh" Amy said a bit taken back by his bluntness

Liam finished his pasta, but his dirty plate on the side and then went back to the room.

The girls started drinking and were soon joined by Jack and George who both got drinks as well.

"Shall we see if Beth wants to come out?" Amy suggested

"Yeah that's a good idea"

Amy and Abbie went and knocked on her door.

"Do you want to come out and have a drink with us?" Abbie asked

"I'm just talking to my boyfriend"

"Okay, well just come out when you're ready"

The girls went back to the kitchen.

The four of them spent ages talking and getting to know each other. Amy and Abbie were both getting considerably tipsy though.

They spent a couple of hours in the kitchen. Liam was still in his room and Beth hadn't come out yet either.

The girls decided to go and get ready.

"Do you want to get ready in my room?" Abbie asked

"Yeah that would be so nice, I hate getting ready for a night out on my own" Amy said

"Me too"

Amy went back to her room and grabbed a couple of outfits and her makeup before going into Abbie's room.

"Your room is so pretty"

"Thank you, I'll put the fairy lights on"

The girls got ready but they carried on drinking.

"I have to go for a wee" Amy said

"Just use my bathroom"

"Thanks" Amy said running into Abbie's bathroom

Amy came out and then got changed before putting on some makeup.

She couldn't do it quite so well as normal because she was drunk but she still looked pretty.

"Do you want me to do your makeup for you?"

"Yeah go for it" Abbie said

Once the two of them were ready Amy grabbed her phone and sent a picture of them to her Mum.

Rachel smiled when she saw it glad to see it looked like Amy was having a fab time.

When they got back to the kitchen Beth was out too but she was constantly texting on her phone.

"Are you coming out tonight?" Amy asked her

"Yeah probably"

"You should definitely come out because we're flat mates and it's freshers, but Liam isn't coming because don't tell him I said so but it sounds like he's a bit boring"

Beth just gave her a disapproving look before picking up her phone again.

"I think we're too boring for her" Amy whispered into Abbie's ear causing them to burst into a fit of giggles

After another hour of drinking they decided to head to the student union night club for their first night.

Amy and Abbie were incredibly drunk by this stage but luckily Jack and George were there to help them.

When they got inside Amy and Abbie headed straight to dance while the boys went and got a drink. Beth sat down and was on her phone again.

After a good dance the girls joined the boys at the bar and did a few shots.

Amy, Abbie, George and Jack went to dance.

Beth had found some people from the flat next door and said she was going back with them.

Amy was having an amazing time but she soon started feeling really sick and realised she needed to get to the toilet.

Abbie saw her rush off so followed her into the toilets and went into the cubicle with her.

Amy was sick and once she'd finished she sat down on the floor and started crying.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to ruin the night"

"What are you talking about? You haven't ruined the night"

"But I was sick and now I'm crying"

"I think worse things have happened on nights out, especially when I'm there anyway"

Amy was feeling a lot better now she'd been sick so they went back out and carried on dancing.

They had an absolutely amazing night for their first night of freshers.

Once it had finished they walked back to their flat and the girls both stumbled straight into bed.

Amy woke up the next morning feeling extremely hungover. Her head was banging. The only good thing was she didn't have her Mum moaning about her being hungover.

Amy got out of bed and put her dressing gown on before going into the kitchen.

Abbie was sat at the kitchen table clearly also feeling extremely hungover. Jack was cooking sandwiches.

"Do you want a sausage sandwich Amy?"

"I would absolutely love one thanks"

Amy sat down at the table next to Abbie.

Jack soon brought the girls sandwiches over. Amy put loads of ketchup on it before starting to eat.

"Thank you so much Jack, you're amazing"

"I'm glad you think so"

Amy was so happy at Uni.

She seemed to have clicked so well with Abbie and Jack and George both seemed lovely too.

She couldn't see herself getting on quite so well with Beth or Liam but she didn't mind because she had some people she was getting on really well with.


	9. Chapter 9

**Set a few weeks later**

Friday had arrived and Rachel was busy getting ready for work. She was really tired and definitely looking forward to the weekend.

She noticed the time and realised she needed to wake the kids up.

After waking Phil, Chloe and Ellie up she went into Ruby's bedroom and crouched down beside her bed.

Rachel started stroking her niece's hair to gently wake her up.

After a while Ruby started to open her eyes but stayed lying down in bed.

"Morning sleepy head, it's time to get up for school now"

"I feel sick"

Rachel ran her hand through her hair. Getting Ruby to go to school had been a constant battle for nearly a month now. Everyday it was something, a tummy ache or a headache or she felt sick or she was too tired. Rachel was wondering what it was that was making her not want to go to school.

"Are you sure Ruby? Or do you just not want to go to school?"

"I really do feel sick"

Rachel sat down on the edge of Ruby's bed.

"The thing is love, you've been telling me a lot lies recently about feeling poorly haven't you?"

"But I really do feel poorly today"

"Well just give school a go for me, it's Friday today anyway so you've got the whole weekend to rest if you are poorly" Rachel said not believing her again

Ruby got out of bed and took her pyjamas off, but she was finding it hard to do anything because she really actually was feeling poorly this time. She felt really sick.

Rachel helped her to get dressed and then brushed her hair before taking her downstairs for breakfast.

She made up some porridge for everyone and then called the others down.

Even Rachel was trying to eat breakfast now to set a good example for the kids, Ellie and Chloe were especially bad for always trying to get out of breakfast.

Ruby couldn't eat any of hers as she was feeling really sick. Rachel was trying to make her eat it but in the end she just gave up.

After breakfast Rachel went upstairs to straighten her hair. She was doing it as quickly as she could as she was running late when Ruby came in.

"Auntie Rachel, I really don't think I'm well enough to go to school"

Rachel had noticed she was quite pale, but she thought it was more than likely that it was just tiredness. By the end of the week Ruby always was shattered.

"We've already talked about this, just give it a try for me yeah? I'm sure you'll feel better once you get there"

Ruby walked out of her Auntie's room and Rachel didn't notice the tears in her eyes because she really was feeling poorly and just wanted to go back to bed.

Once they were all ready they got in the car to leave. Just like usual Rachel dropped Ruby at her primary school before driving onto Waterloo Road.

Even though it was Friday it felt like the weekend was still so far away for Rachel as she had so much work to do, so as soon as she'd parked she went straight up to her office to get on with the work.

It was at about 11 when Rachel got a call from Ruby's teacher saying she'd been sick at school so needed picking up.

Rachel felt bad for not believing her so drove round to her primary school as quickly as she could.

When she got into reception Ruby was sat on the sofa crying looking really scared.

As soon as Rachel came and sat by her she leaned into her chest and started to cry even more.

"I'm sorry for not believing you darling, let's get you home"

Rachel signed Ruby out and she was just about to leave with her when Miss Middleton walked into reception.

"Rachel I was hoping to have a quick chat with you before you left"

"Okay" Rachel said smiling

"Shall we go into the classroom? The children are all outside anyway with the teaching assistant"

Ruby got up to go with them too but Miss Middleton stopped her.

"Just wait here for a little bit longer for me please Ruby"

"I want to come with you" Ruby said whilst holding on tightly to Rachel's hand

"I need to have a word with Miss Middleton"

"We won't be long Ruby, Auntie Rachel will be back soon I promise"

Sadly Ruby sat back on the sofa so Rachel left with Miss Middleton.

"I just wanted to talk to you about Ruby, she seems to be having a bit of trouble at school at the minute. She can barely concentrate on her work, she's always saying she wants you or she needs to go home because she's not feeling very well"

"I've been having a lot of trouble just trying to get her to come into school, I really don't know what I can do"

"Well I think it's likely Ruby might be suffering from separation anxiety"

Rachel was a little surprised by this, she knew Ruby was struggling at the minute but this sounded quite serious.

"But why? She's never had a problem with going to school before"

"Well it can be caused by a number of things, but the death of a parent can often cause it which is why I think it's likely that this is what Ruby is suffering from"

"Right" Rachel sad feeling quite worried "so what do I need to do?"

"I would take her to a doctor and see if they can arrange for her to talk to someone, but other than that give her lots of cuddles and just really emphasise that you're not going to leave her"

"I'll ring the doctors straight away then"

"Probably for the best, anyway shall we get back to Ruby? We don't want her getting anymore upset"

The two of them went back to reception where the receptionist had come over to try and comfort Ruby as she was getting worked up and kept saying that she wanted Rachel.

Rachel went straight over to Ruby to try and soothe her.

Once she'd stopped crying Rachel signed Ruby out before taking her back to the car.

"Right if you think you're going to be sick again, tell me and I'll try and pull over okay?"

"Okay, Auntie Rachel don't you have to be at work today?"

"Yes so Grandma's coming over to look after you so I can go back to work"

Hearing this made Ruby's bottom lip wobble and it wasn't long before she was in tears again.

"What's wrong love, why are you crying?"

"I want you to stay with me"

"But I've got to go to my school to do my job, but I'll be with you as soon as school finishes and then you'll have me for the whole weekend"

"Can't you just work from home like you've done before when I was poorly?"

"All of my stuff is still at school so I can't"

Ruby didn't respond to this but went extremely quiet.

"Are you okay Ruby?"

"I think I'm going to be sick"

Luckily Rachel was able to pull in straight away so she got Ruby out of the car as quickly as she could where she was sick in the bush.

Ruby managed to avoid being sick all down herself which Rachel was glad about so as soon as she'd finished Rachel got her straight back in the car as she was shivering.

Rachel drove home as quickly as she could and got Ruby inside.

"Shall we get you changed into something more comfortable?" Rachel asked and Ruby nodded

They went up to Ruby's bedroom and Rachel got her a clean pair of pyjamas out of her drawer and helped her to change into them.

"Please don't go to work Auntie Rachel, I want you to stay here with me" Ruby said as she began to cry

Rachel sat down on the bed and lifted Ruby onto her lap.

"I'll only be gone for a few hours, and Grandma's going to be here to look after you"

"But I don't want you to leave me" Ruby cried beginning to get herself quite worked up

Rachel began to think maybe she should just take the afternoon off. After all it was only paperwork that she needed to do, and she did think it might be good for her to spend some time alone with Ruby.

"Ok I'll tell you what love, I'll work from home but I'm going to have to be in the study quite a lot I won't be able to sit on the sofa with you for the whole time"

"I don't mind" Ruby said as she instantly began to calm down

Rachel got Ruby settled on the sofa with a blanket over her before ringing Eddie to ask him to bring all of her stuff round, as she'd left it all at work.

It wasn't long before Chris's Mum arrived, obviously she didn't need to look after Ruby anymore but she stayed for a cup of tea before leaving again.

Rachel didn't know whether Ruby was really poorly or whether she'd been sick from getting herself so worked up.

"Please can I have something to eat Auntie Rachel? I'm really hungry"

"Aren't you feeling sick anymore?"

"No I feel lots better now"

"Well I'll get you some toast then, but I don't want you to eat too much in case you start feeling sick again"

Rachel went out to the kitchen and made a sandwich for herself and got Ruby some toast. She was pretty sure now that Ruby wasn't poorly but she still wanted to play it safe and not give her too much to eat.

While the two of them ate their lunch they watched Tangled and then Rachel left Ruby watching it as she really needed to get on with some work.

The first thing Rachel did when she sat at the desk was ring the doctors to make an appointment for Ruby. They managed to get her one on Monday morning, but Rachel wasn't planning on speaking to Ruby about the appointment until Monday.

Taking Ruby to the doctors was never an easy task anyway as she always got really anxious about going, so Rachel didn't want to give her anything else to worry about.

Rachel did a couple of hours work but then decided the rest could wait until Saturday or Sunday as she wanted to spend a bit of time with Ruby.

When she went into the lounge she found Ruby playing Just Dance on the wii.

"Well I think it's safe to say someone's feeling better"

"I am, but I promise I was feeling poorly before I didn't lie so I could come home"

"I know love, you were sick remember?"

"Will you play this with me?"

"I don't see why not"

Rachel and Ruby spent the next half an hour playing Just Dance and by the time they'd finished Ruby was hungry again so Rachel went and got her a snack.

"Ruby, come out to the kitchen for your snack"

Rachel had given her some strawberries and grapes which Ruby wasn't too happy about.

"Can't I have something yummy?"

"If you eat all of your fruit, you can have one of the cookies we made yesterday"

Ruby really wanted a cookie so ate her fruit with little fuss so then Rachel went and got her one of the chocolate cookies.

"Phil, Chloe and Ellie should be home soon so I reckon it would be nice if we all go out for a nice walk somewhere, we haven't had much fresh air today"

"Can we wait for Daddy too?"

"No he won't be home until about 6 so it will be too late then"

With that Chloe got home and came into the kitchen.

"Hi love how was your day?"

"It was okay, I'm so tired now but I have so much homework to do"

"Well you've got all weekend to do it"

"I just as well make a start on it now I suppose"

"Not on a Friday love"

"You always say that, but I'd rather just get it out the way"

"Yes but you've been working hard all week, and I think it does you good to have Friday evenings free from any homework and revision. I never used to let Amy do anything on a Friday evening"

Chloe rolled her eyes, but actually realised it would be nice to just have a relaxing Friday evening.

"I'm going up to get changed"

"Ok, and then we're going to go to the woods for a walk"

"Really?"

"Yes really, me and Ruby need some fresh air we've been stuck inside all day"

"Why?"

"Ruby was sick at school this morning so we've been at home since"

"Are you feeling better now Ruby?"

"I feel fine now"

They were still talking when Ellie came into the kitchen.

She was just as reluctant as Chloe to go for a walk but Rachel was insistent that they all went.

Ellie and Chloe both went upstairs to get changed, as did Ruby.

Ruby came down first wearing one of her summer dresses.

"What are you wearing a summer dress for? You'll be freezing"

"But it's really sunny outside"

"I know it looks sunny out but it's still cold, definitely not the weather for a summer dress"

"But it's pretty"

"Yes so you don't want to get it all muddy by wearing it to the woods do you?"

"No"

"Let's get you changed into something else then"

Rachel went upstairs as she could never take the dress off on her own, and then got a top and a pair of leggings out for Ruby to put on.

Rachel was beginning to wonder where Phil was, but then she remembered he was staying at Bolton's tonight and was going straight there from school.

Once they were all ready Rachel drove to the woods and parked the car where they usually did.

Even though Chloe and Elle both didn't really want to go when they got there they did quite enjoy it. It was nice to be out in the fresh air after a day at school.

"Is Amy coming home soon?" Ruby asked as they were walking through the woods

"No not yet, but we're going to see her in a couple of weeks"

"I can't wait to see her"

"Me neither" Rachel said, it was true it felt like ages since she'd seen her eldest daughter and she really couldn't wait to see her

They'd all been really missing Amy, it felt so strange not having her around the house. Amy seemed to be having a great time though so Rachel was just glad that she'd settled in well.

"Are we going on Friday or Saturday?" Chloe asked

"Saturday morning" Rachel replied

"Good because it's Tilly's Birthday on the Friday and she's having a party"

"We're leaving early mind you so you'd better not be hungover" Rachel said raising her eyebrows

After walking through the woods they got into the car to come home again. They stopped in Tesco on the way home to pick up a few bits.

When they got back Ellie and Chloe both went up to their rooms, Ruby went into the play room and Rachel went into the kitchen to make a start on tea.

They were having fajitas but now Rachel really couldn't be bothered to cook, but she knew she had to.

She was cooking when Chris got in from work. It was really nice to have him home. He'd been working late quite a lot this week so Rachel was really pleased it was the weekend.

Chris had just gone upstairs to get changed out of his work clothes when Ellie came rushing downstairs and bounded into the kitchen.

"Mum please can I go camping tomorrow night?"

"Camping? Who do you want to go camping with?"

"Someone's having people over to camp in their field"

"Who?" Rachel asked suspiciously when Ellie didn't say a name

"Finn, but there's going to be a girls tent and a boys tent don't worry"

Rachel didn't really like the sound of this.

"How close is the field to Finn's house?"

"It's like a 15 minute walk"

"Are his parents going to be there"

"No, why would they be there?"

"To keep an eye on things. I'm going to have to say no to this one I'm afraid love"

"Why? Everyone else is allowed to go"

"I'm not keen on the idea of you spending the night alone with boys"

"There's going to be girls too, you didn't mind when I went to the cinema last weekend and there were boys there"

"That's slightly different to a bunch of 11 year olds alone in a field for the night"

"Please Mum, I really want to go"

"The answer's no Ellie" Rachel said firmly, there was no way she was going to change her mind on this

"I'll be the only one not going, thanks a lot Mum" Ellie said before bursting into tears and running off

Rachel sighed, Ellie certainly did seem to be very emotional at the minute. It only took the smallest of things to set her off but Rachel knew this was probably because she was getting to a difficult age

There wasn't much she could now, so decided to wait until later to go and speak to Ellie.

Chris came back into the kitchen and laid the table.

Tea was soon ready so Rachel called the kids down.

Ellie was in a mood all through tea and was being horrible to Rachel which wasn't very nice for everyone.

"Ellie if you've finished you can put your plate in the dishwasher and go up to your room"

"But you're all still eating"

"Yes and you're in a bad mood, and no-one wants to be around you when you're being like this"

Ellie scowled at Rachel before leaving the table and going up to her room.

"What's up with her?" Chris asked

"She wants to go to some camp out tomorrow night at Finn's house but I said no"

"Good, she's too young to be doing things like that" Chris said

Rachel was surprised Chloe didn't chip in saying how unfair she was being.

"I'm surprised your not sticking up for your sister Chlo, you used to be exactly like her when you were that age"

"I can see why you said no, she is quite young to be doing things like that now"

Rachel was impressed by her daughter, but Chloe did seem to be maturing quite a lot. She'd certainly knuckled down now that she was in year 11 and was working really hard at school which Rachel was pleased about.

Once they'd finished eating and had cleared up Rachel went up to Ellie's bedroom.

Ellie was lying on her bed and it was obvious she'd been crying.

"I'm sorry for being horrible to you" Ellie said, now she'd calmed down she realised she had been unfair to Rachel

Rachel closed the door before going down and sitting down next to Ellie.

"When I say no it's not just to be mean you know"

"I know, I just really wanted to go"

"The thing is love I know it seems really fun but you have to understand that as your Mum I don't want you doing things that I don't think you're ready to do yet. And to be honest and the thought of you spending the night with lots of boys as well as girls with no adult supervision is actually quite worrying for me" Rachel said laughing

"I guess, Jen isn't allowed to go either"

"Well there you go, so I'm not the only worst Mum in the world then?"

"No" Ellie said smiling now

"How about you invite Jen over here for a sleepover tomorrow night instead?"

"That would be nice. I really am sorry for how I was before though Mum"

"It's alright love, I know your at that age now where these… how should I put it, outbursts are going to be quite normal which is why I sent you up to your room earlier because I thought you probably just needed a bit of time to yourself to calm down"

Rachel gave Ellie a hug and then the two of them went downstairs ready for a family night in front of the TV.

They were watching Coronation Street when the house phone rang. Rachel picked it up and it was Amy.

"Hi love, how are you?"

"Mum I want to come home" Amy said who was clearly in tears

"Why do you want to come home?"

"Because I miss you and Dad, and everyone and I just want to see you"

"I miss you too Amy but we're coming to see you in a couple of weeks"

"That's ages away"

"No it's not, the time will fly by and before you know it we'll be there"

"But I want to come home for the weekend as well"

Of course Rachel would have loved for her to come home for the weekend. But Rachel also knew the worst thing you can do when your home sick is to come home, because it only makes it harder when you're back.

"Sweetheart I really don't think it's a good idea to come home if you're feeling homesick. As much as I want to see you, it's just going to make it worse for you when you have to go back on Sunday"

It was breaking Rachel's heart hearing Amy so upset but Rachel was trying her best to stay strong for Amy's sake, but her eyes were swimming with tears.

"I suppose"

"What's everyone doing tonight? Are they going out?"

"No everyone's really tired"

"So I reckon you should have a movie night with Abbie, go to Tesco and buy chocolate and Ben and Jerry's and just have a girly night"

"Okay I'll do that"

Rachel stayed talking with Amy for a few more minutes glad that she'd persuaded her not to come home.

"Right you go and find Abbie and choose a film to put on"

"Okay"

"I'll speak to you tomorrow Amy, love you lots"

"Love you too Mum"

As soon as Rachel put the phone down she burst into tears. There was nothing she wanted to do more than to cuddle Amy and make her feel better. She hated not being able to comfort her daughter when she was sad.

Chris came into the kitchen a few minutes later and found Rachel in tears.

"What's wrong Rach?"

"Amy's homesick, she wanted to come home for the weekend"

"Is she?"

"No I convinced her not to, I don't think it's a good idea if she's feeling homesick"

"You're right, what's she going to do then?"

"I told her to have a girly night with Abbie"

"She's going to be fine Rach, you know how much she's been enjoying it up to now. She was bound to feel homesick at some point and she'll soon be over it and then she'll be absolutely fine again"

"I know, I just hate to think of her upset"

"Of course you do Rach, you're her Mum"

Chris wiped Rachel's tears away and gave her a big cuddle.

Once Rachel had calmed down they went back into the lounge and watched the end of Coronation Street.

When Amy got off he phone from her Mum she cried for a bit longer before deciding she needed to pull herself together. So she did her best to stop crying and then she took off her makeup, washed her face and changed into her pyjamas before going into Abbie's room.

The girls decided to watch Wild Child but first they went across to Tesco to buy some chocolate and ice cream.

When they got back they sat on Amy's bed and watched the film.

Amy was starting to feel better already. She was stll missing home but now she was with Abbie she was feeling a lot better.

She got her phone out and text her Mum that she was feeling a lot happier now.

Rachel was relieved when she got the text. Now she really was looking forward to seeing Amy.


	10. Chapter 10

It was 10 o clock on a Saturday morning and Rachel was busy trying to get everyone ready for going to see Amy.

Despite Rachel warning her, Chloe had drunk way more than she should have the night before so was feeling hungover.

Rachel thought she'd got out of bed the last time she told her, but when she went into check Chloe had gone back to sleep again.

"This is your final warning Chloe, we're leaving in 15 minutes whether you're ready or not"

"Can't we just leave in like an hour, it's hardly going to make a difference"

"We were meant to be leaving at 10 and it's already gone that. We'd just as well make the most of the time we have there rather than hanging around because a certain someone had too much to drink last night"

"Fine I'm getting up" Chloe sighed but she really wasn't feeling great at all

"You get dressed, I'll get you some breakfast, what do you want?"

"Toast please"

Rachel went down and got Chloe some toast before bringing it straight back up.

Once everything was sorted Rachel and Chris put all the bags in the car as they were staying in a hotel overnight.

Once everything was in the car Rachel went upstairs to make sure everyone was ready to leave.

When she went into Ellie's room she found her on her bed holding a cushion to her stomach.

"Are you feeling okay love?"

"No I've got a really bad stomach ache"

"I wonder what's caused that, if you come downstairs I'll get you some paracetamol"

Rachel got Phil, Chloe and Ruby all to come down too before quickly getting some paracetamol and a glass of water for Ellie.

"Right miss Ruby, you need to go to the loo before we leave because we don't want to have to stop halfway"

"But I don't need to go"

"Well just try for me, because else you'll need to go half an hour into the journey knowing you"

Ruby went to the loo and once she'd been they all got into the car.

They soon began the journey and with all the kids in the car it never was going to be a peaceful one.

Ellie wasn't feeling right at all so had her eyes closed and was trying to drop off to sleep but with Ruby pestering her every five minutes asking her to play a game it wasn't an easy thing to do.

"Mum can you tell Ruby to leave me alone" Ellie snapped causing Ruby's face to drop, she never did like it when people shouted

"Ruby, Ellie isn't feeling very well so can you just let her rest for a bit please?" Rachel said calmly

"But I want to play a game"

"Well how about I play a game with you instead, what do you want to play?"

"Eye spy"

Rachel sighed, she was so fed up of that game! She knew Ellie wanted a bit of peace so did it to distract Ruby from her.

After about an hour and a half later they arrived at Amy's university halls.

Amy was so excited to see them all, she had missed them way more than she'd expected to.

By the time they arrived Ruby was bursting for the loo so Rachel ran on ahead to them and Amy had already come out to let them into the building.

Rachel was so happy to see her daughter, it had been way too long since they'd had a hug but it was rushed as Rachel was aware of the fact Ruby was jumping up and down because she was so desperate.

"Ruby's desperate for the loo love"

Amy quickly let them in and took them to her bedroom so that Ruby could go for a wee.

"It's so good to see you Aims, it really is"

Amy smiled, she loved just being able to hear her Mum's voice and smell her perfume.

"I'd better let Dad and the others in"

Amy went and let Chris and the others in, but they were a bit squashed all being in Amy's bedroom as it wasn't overly big.

"How about we go for a nice walk and then go for lunch somewhere?"

"I never thought I'd actually say this, but a walk sounds lovely"

They went in the kitchen as Ruby was really thirsty.

Ellie's stomach ache seemed to be getting worse.

"Amy please can I use your toilet?" Ellie asked as she needed the loo

"Yeah sure, my doors unlocked just go in"

Ellie went into her sister's bathroom.

When she sat down on the loo she was shocked to see that her knickers were covered in blood.

She realised it must be her period, but she hadn't been expecting to start so young. She thought she'd be at least 12 or 13.

Ellie began to feel really scared, as she knew it would be really difficult to get Rachel on her own to tell her but at the minute she was really embarrassed about it so didn't know if she'd be able to anyway.

She looked around and saw that Amy had some pads and a box of tampax. The pads weren't opened so she didn't want to open them up and there was no way she was going to use a tampon!

In the end she put some toilet roll in her knickers, really hoping that she wouldn't leak onto her jeans.

Ellie realised she'd been in there for quite a while so pulled the flush and quickly washed her hands before going back into the kitchen.

"Right shall we get going then?" Rachel asked once Ellie had returned

Amy went back to put her shoes on and grab a coat and then they walked out to the car.

Rachel had picked up on how quiet Ellie was being so tried to walk a bit slower to get Ellie away from the others, knowing she wouldn't want a fuss made in front of them.

"Is everything okay love?"

"Yes why wouldn't it be?"

"You seem a bit quiet that's all, is your stomach still hurting?"

"Yes it's really sore"

"Hopefully the tablets will kick in soon but if they don't you can have some more in a couple of hours"

Once they were in the car they drove and decided to go for a walk along the river.

It was so nice for them to have everyone back together again. Rachel knew the weekend was going to go really quickly but she just wanted to make the most of it while it lasted.

They hadn't been walking for long but Ellie really just wanted to go for something to eat now as she really wanted to go the toilet to check she wasn't leaking.

About five minutes later Ellie noticed a sign for some toilets.

"Mum I really need the loo, can we stop?"

"You only just went when we were at Amy's"

"Yeah well I need to go again"

"Well we'll stop then, Ruby do you need to go too while we're here?"

Ellie took Ruby in with her. At the minute Ellie was wishing she was Ruby's age again so she wouldn't have to deal with any of this, she hated it.

Once they'd both been and washed their hands they went back out to join the others.

"Who you texting Chlo?" Amy asked as she walked beside her sister

"Tom"

"Tom, who's Tom?"

"Oh yeah I guess you haven't heard" Rachel said chipping in

"My boyfriend"

"Since when?"

"Since the summer holidays apparently, not that we knew anything about it until a couple of weeks ago"

"Because I knew you'd always bring it up and try to embarrass me like you always do"

"I so do not"

"Do you know him from school?"

"No I met him at a party, he knows some of the boys in my year from football"

"Has he been round yet?"

"Yeah, even Dad's met him"

They were having a really nice walk but it suddenly started to rain.

Luckily they only had to walk for another five minutes before they got to a nice little café so they went in there to have some lunch.

Almost as soon as they'd sat down Ellie said that she was going to the loo.

Rachel was getting a bit concerned about her so decided to follow her in.

Ellie went into the loo and when she saw it was getting heavier she began to cry a bit, as she really didn't know what to do.

She put more toilet roll into her knickers and tried to stop crying before going out.

She was surprised to see her Mum in there, she had no idea she was going to follow her in.

"Everything okay?" Rachel asked to which Ellie nodded

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked placing her hand on Ellie's arm

This was enough to make her burst into tears.

"Hey come here" Rachel said as she wrapped her arms around her daughter "what's wrong?"

"I've started my period" Ellie replied her cheeks blushing a bit

"Oh darling I bet that was a bit of a shock?"

"It was"

"When did you start?"

"When I went to the loo in Amy's room"

"Oh love why didn't you just tell me then?"

"Because it's really embarrassing"

"I'm your Mum, you don't need to be embarrassed in front of me. I've been through it all before remember"

"I know" Ellie said, now that she had told Rachel it wasn't actually as embarrassing as she thought it was going to be

"Anyway, I've got a pad in my bag so do you want to go in and get yourself sorted? That's the only one I've got with me but we can nip to the shops after lunch and get some"

Ellie took her Mum's bag in so she could get herself sorted and then came out again.

"We can have a proper chat later, but are you okay for the time being?"

"Yeah I'm fine"

Ellie and Rachel went out and joined the others for lunch.

Ellie was feeling a lot happier for telling Rachel about it and wished she'd just told her straight away, but she was still feeling quite shaken up by it.

"Right then what's everyone having?" Rachel asked

"Scampi and chips please" Ruby said

"Just for a change" Rachel said laughing, this seemed to be Ruby's favourite at the minute

"I'm going to have lasagne, I haven't had it since I came here"

"That's what we had last night" Chloe told her

"I miss your lasagne so much Mum"

Rachel couldn't make up her mind but in the end she went for a burger and chips when the waitress came, which really wasn't good for her diet.

Once they'd had their order taken Ruby did some colouring much to the relief of them all as it kept her quiet for a while.

It took quite a while for their food to come, but it didn't really matter as they had nowhere to be.

When the food did eventually come everyone was starving though so it didn't take them long to eat.

The kids all decided to have a dessert but Chris was full from his mixed grill and Rachel was trying to be good so decided not to have one.

Once they'd had dessert Chris paid and then they left to walk back along the river.

"Can we head to the shops for a bit Amy? How far are they from here?"

"Not that far"

They drove to the shops and parked in the car park.

"I just need to nip to boots, so I'll catch you all up in a bit"

Rachel went off on her own knowing Ellie wouldn't want everyone knowing what she was buying.

It didn't take her long and she soon met up with the others again.

Rachel ended up buying a few things for Amy that she'd seen and really liked but had managed to resist buying.

They didn't stay at the shops for long as they wanted to waste time shopping.

Everyone had a really nice day but Rachel knew Amy wanted to go out in the evening so they dropped her back at about 5 so she could get ready properly.

"Thanks for a lovely day love, and we'll see you tomorrow"

"Yeah see you tomorrow"

Amy was really looking forward to going out tonight, but it was nice knowing her parents were only a 10 minute drive away and that she was going to see them tomorrow.

Amy quickly had some toast and then had a shower and washed her hair and then went into Abbie's room to see what she was wearing.

The girls decided they were going to make more of an effort tonight than what they had been when they went out as it was a girl from the flat opposites Birthday.

Amy went back and dried her hair and put a top on a pair of pyjama shorts and a top before going back into Abbie's room with her makeup.

The girls got ready together just like they always did for a night out. Amy was so glad she had Abbie, the two of them really had become good friends now.

Once they'd finished ready they poured themselves a drink and sat talking.

After they'd had a drink they decided to go into the flat opposite for pre drinks. They weren't really that close with anyone in their flat so they'd started always going over there for pre drinks.

Once the girls arrived they decided to start playing drinking games, meaning that Amy ended up drinking a lot very quickly.

Amy usually got drunk quicker than everyone else anyway and considering the amount she was drinking, it didn't take long before she was extremely drunk.

It was getting quite late so they decided to head into town.

As soon as they got into the club Amy rushed straight to the toilets as she was feeling sick.

She was sick as soon as she got in there but once she'd been sick she went back out with Abbie to get another drink.

While they were queueing up they started talking to a couple of guys and they ended up doing loads of shots with them.

Amy was fine at first and just carried on dancing but it wasn't long before she was completely out of it.

Abbie realised she'd had way too much to drink so took her to the toilets.

They went inside a cubicle and whilst Amy was on the loo she passed out.

"Amy wake up, Amy, Amy"

Amy did come round again which Abbie was glad about.

"I'm going to be sick" Amy announced and managed to turn around just in time where she started throwing up again

Abbie stayed in there with her for ages as she continued to be sick.

Eventually Amy stopped so Abbie took her back to the bar but this time got her a glass of water.

Amy drank it really quickly before bringing it all back up on the floor in the club, causing them to be kicked out because Amy was in a really bad way.

Abbie didn't know what to do now as there was no way she could get Amy home on her own considering the state she was in. She knew Amy's parents were staying overnight so in the end she decided to call them.

Abbie looked through Amy's contacts and found Rachel's number so rang her.

Luckily Rachel's phone was right next to her so she heard it vibrating.

Rachel was confused as to what was going on at first but when she realised it was her phone and saw that it was Amy she picked the phone up straight away.

When Abbie explained what was going on Rachel said she'd come straight away.

Rachel woke Chris up and told him what was going on.

"Do you want me to go?"

"No it's fine, I'll go"

Rachel quickly got dressed before driving into town to try and find the club.

When she got there she spotted Amy straight away, who was lying down on the pavement.

"I'm so sorry about this Abbie"

"It's okay, it's not Amy's fault"

"I think it is her fault, I'd have thought she would've learnt to not drink so much by now but clearly not"

"Are you going back in or do you want to come back with us?"

"I'll come back with you if that's okay"

"Of course it is, you get in the car"

Rachel managed to get Amy into the car although she was completely out of it and didn't have a clue what was going on.

When they got back Rachel and Abbie got Amy into her room.

"Thanks for your help Abbie, I can sort her from here"

Abbie left so Rachel got Amy into her pyjamas, however she soon had to rush her to the bathroom where she was sick again.

Once she'd finished Rachel got her into bed before going out and getting her a glass of water.

Rachel had never seen her so bad before, and there had been numerous times where she'd had to pick her up from parties after getting too drunk.

In the end Rachel decided to stay here for the night as she didn't feel right leaving her when she was in such a state.

Rachel somehow manged to squeeze in next to Amy on her single bed although she didn't have a very good nights sleep whatsoever.

When Amy woke up the next morning she felt absolutely dreadful. She had to rush straight out of bed to be sick.

Rachel was awake anyway so followed her in and held her hair back.

Amy didn't think anything of it at first but then she was confused about what her Mum was doing here.

"How come you're here?" Amy asked once she was back in bed

"I had a call from Abbie last night saying you were so drunk that she didn't know what to do, so I came and picked you up"

"Oh" Amy said starting to feel bad

"How are you feeling?"

"Absolutely awful"

"I have to admit you're not looking your best. Do you want something to eat?"

"I'd love a sausage sandwich but I don't have any sausages"

"How about some toast then?"

"Yes please"

Rachel went out and got her daughter some breakfast and brought it back into her.

"Now I'm only going to say this once Amy, because I know you don't live at home anymore so you don't want me to be lecturing you, but I am still your Mum. I think you know that you drank way too much last night, so next time please try and be more careful. I'm not saying don't drink, but just not as much. I think you need to count yourself very lucky you've got someone like Abbie to look after you because anything could've happened to you last night"

"I know, I'm never drinking again"

"I'm sure you'll change your mind about that in a few days, but next time drink more sensibly"

"Don't worry I will"

"Right, I'm going to go back to get ready but we'll be back here at about 11 if you still want to go out today?"

"Yes I still want to"

"Okay, see you later then love"

Rachel went back to the hotel and got ready and once they were all ready they drove to pick Amy up.

Amy didn't want to do much but they went and got some fresh air before going to a pub which was meant to do a really nice carvery.

Even though Amy was feeling extremely hungover she still managed to have a good day with her family.

Amy got a little bit upset when it was time for them all to leave, but she was coming home in a couple of weeks anyway for Chloe's Birthday so she just needed to look forward to that.

Please review xxxxx


	11. Chapter 11

Two weeks had passed and Rachel was waiting at the train station to pick Amy up, she couldn't wait to have her daughter home for the weekend!

Amongst all the people coming through the barriers Rachel suddenly spotted Amy.

It took Amy a few more moments to see her Mum but eventually she did so she came rushing over and wrapped her arms around her Mum.

"It feels like so long since I've been here" Amy said

"It has been six weeks now"

"I know, the times gone so quickly. How come you came alone?"

"Well I had to go to Tesco before I got you so as you can imagine no-one wanting to join me there. Everyone is so excited to see you though"

"I can't wait to see them either" Amy said truthfully, she had been looking forward to coming home for quite some time now

They quickly went back to the car and drove home again.

As soon as the others heard Rachel and Amy come in they all rushed to the front door.

Ruby was the first one to get a cuddle off of Amy, she missed having her cousin around the house.

"Happy Birthday Chlo" Amy said as she gave her sister a hug

"Thanks Amy"

Once she'd said hello to everyone Amy quickly took her stuff up to her room. It felt so nice to be back in her room, and she really was looking forward to having her double bed back for the weekend.

Amy went back downstairs where Rachel had a cup of coffee waiting for her.

"What time are we going out tonight Mum?" Amy asked as they were going out for dinner for Chloe's Birthday tonight

"Tables booked for seven, so aim to leave here by half past six"

"I'd better start getting ready soon then, how come you decided to not have your party in the end Chlo?"

When Amy turned 16 Rachel let her have a party for it, so of course Chloe had insisted Rachel let her have one too. But for some reason last week Chloe had decided to cancel her party which both Amy and Rachel had been shocked about.

"I just don't want one, It's my Birthday so surely I should be able to do what I want. Why does everyone have to keep going on about it?" Chloe shouted before storming off

"Is she okay?" Amy asked once Chloe had left the kitchen

"I'm not sure to be honest with you my love, she hasn't been herself for the last few weeks"

"It's weird, she didn't stop talking about it for the whole of the summer how you had to let her have a party for her Birthday because you let me have one for my 16th"

"I know it doesn't make sense to me either I keep trying to ask her why but every time I do she gets all snappy like she did just then"

Amy and Rachel were still sat chatting when Chris got in from work, he came straight into the kitchen to see his daughter.

"Hiya Dad" Amy said before going over to him and giving him a big hug

"How are you Aims?"

"I'm good thanks"

Amy stayed chatting with her parents for another ten minutes before going up to start getting ready.

"I suppose I'd better start getting ready too"

Rachel and Chris both went up to their bedroom. Rachel got straight into the shower and then Chris went in after her.

Chris got ready a lot quicker than Rachel did so was going to go downstairs to make himself a cup of tea.

"Can you check Ellie and Chloe are getting ready on your way down please?"

"Yeah sure"

Chris checked on Chloe who was sat doing her hair before going to Ellie's bedroom.

Ellie's door wasn't completely shut so Chris just pushed it open and stuck his head around the door however he was shocked when he saw Ellie stood there in just her underwear.

"Dad, get you" Ellie shouted

It was hard to tell who was more embarrassed out of the pair of them.

Rachel had remembered she'd ironed the dress earlier that Ellie wanted to wear but hadn't given it to her so decided to go and give it to her now.

She was walking down the landing when she saw Chris looking red and flustered.

"What's up with you?"

"I accidentally walked in on Ellie when she was getting changed"

"Well did you not knock?"

"I didn't even think about it"

Rachel laughed before walking over to Ellie's bedroom and knocking on the door.

"Ellie's it's Mum, can I come in?"

"Yeah"

Rachel opened the door and saw Ellie with her dressing gown on putting on a bit of makeup.

"There's your dress love" Rachel said placing it down on Ellie's bed

"Thanks Mum and can you tell Dad to make sure he knocks before he just walks into my bedroom in the future"

"Don't worry I'm sure he will next time, he told me what happened" Rachel said laughing

"It's not funny, it was really embarrassing"

"Don't worry about it now, I'm sure Dad will learn from it"

Rachel left Ellie to finish getting ready before going to see Ruby. She was expecting her to still be in her room however she wasn't.

Rachel was about to go and look for her when Ruby came in.

"Where've you been?"

"In Amy's bedroom, she was doing my hair for me"

"It looks very pretty, I was just coming to do your hair for you but obviously there's no need. Go to the bathroom and give your face a wash love"

"And then can I put my dress on?"

"No that can wait until just before we leave" Rachel said knowing Ruby was likely to manage to get it dirty somehow

Ruby went and washed her face before going into Rachel's room with her while she finished to get ready. She always did love watching Rachel doing her hair and makeup in her pretty bedroom.

Amy walked in wearing a lovely dress.

"That's a nice dress love, I haven't seen it before"

"Well I didn't spend that much money last week so I treated myself, can you do the zip up for me please?"

"Yeah turn around"

Rachel did the red, lace dress up that Amy had on.

"What are you going to wear Mum?"

"I was planning on wearing black trousers and a top but maybe I should dress up a bit more"

"Yeah you definitely should"

Amy went over to her Mum's wardrobe and picked out a black dress for her to wear.

"You should wear this"

"I don't know about that love, I'm probably a bit too old to wear that now"

"Just try it on"

Rachel ended up trying it on knowing Amy wouldn't give up until she dd.

"You look amazing Mum" Amy said once she had the dress on

"I don't know, isn't a bit short"

"Mum it comes just above your knee, that's hardly short"

"What do you think Ruby?"

"You look really pretty so I think you should wear it"

Rachel wasn't entirely sure but decided to keep it on.

Once Rachel had finished getting ready it was nearly time to go so she went into Ruby's bedroom with her to help her get changed into her dress.

Once Ruby was ready too Rachel went to check on Chloe.

"Wow, you look gorgeous darling" Rachel said taking in the appearance of her daughter who was also wearing a black dress, but it was certainly a lot shorter and tighter than Rachel's

"Thanks Mum"

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah" Amy said before picking up her bag and going downstairs with Rachel

"Amy, Ellie, Phil time to go"

The two girls both came out from the kitchen..

"I just need to put my lipstick on and then I'm ready" Amy said

They were soon all ready so they got into the car and drove to the restaurant.

Chloe had chosen one of her favourite Italian restaurants to go to and was really looking forward to just spending her Birthday with her family and then going into Manchester tomorrow with her boyfriend.

Of course Rachel was more than happy about just going for a meal rather than letting Chloe have a party so that she didn't have to worry about the house being trashed or have to clear up the next day.

She couldn't help but worry there was something going on that Chloe wasn't telling her about though as to why she didn't want the party.

They went into the restaurant and were shown to their table.

Rachel and Amy both had a glass of white wine, but Chris didn't because he was driving.

"Can I have one Mum?"

"I suppose so, but only because it's your Birthday"

"Auntie Rachel please can I do some drawing?"

"Choose what you want to eat first, what do you fancy?"

"What is there?"

"Have a look at the menu" Rachel said opening it up for her

"I want spaghetti bolognase please"

Rachel knew this would probably end badly but she didn't want to stop her having what she wanted.

The service was quite slow but it didn't bother anyone because they weren't in a rush and it was nice to just sit and chat.

"Have you had any presents from any of your friend Chlo?"

"No I don't know if we're doing presents or not this year, we may just do cards"

Rachel thought this was odd, Chloe had a few really close friends so Rachel couldn't understand why they wouldn't get her a present when they always had in the past.

The waitress soon came and gave them all of their food.

"Auntie Rachel" Ruby said facing her Auntie

"Yes love"

"I need a wee" she said quietly

"Typical you, waiting until our food comes to tell me"

"Well I didn't know I needed to go before"

"Come on then let's go quickly before our food goes cold"

"Do you want me to take her Mum?" Amy offered

"No it's alright love, I'll go"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah you tuck into pasta, it looks delicious"

Rachel took Ruby to the toilets and thought she may as well go whilst she was there too.

After she'd been she came out and washed her hands.

Ruby had been in there quite a while so Rachel was beginning to wonder what she was doing.

"Are you alright Ruby?"

"Yeah"

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to pull my tights up but there all twisted"

"Do you want me to help you?"

"Yes please"

Ruby opened the door and let Rachel in. She couldn't understand how Ruby had managed to get her tights so twisted but she helped her to pull them up and then they came out.

Once Ruby had washed her hands the two of them returned to the table.

After they'd eaten and had their plates cleared away they ordered desserts.

They went to a real effort with Chloe's, and put a candle in her chocolate torte and wrote 'Happy 16th Birthday' on the plate.

When they brought it over the staff started to sing Happy Birthday and everyone in the restaurant joined in too, much to the embarrassment of Chloe.

"That was so embarrassing" Chloe said once they'd gone

"Very nice of them though"

"Yeah it was, how did they know it was my Birthday?"

"I think I mentioned it to them when I booked the table"

By the time they'd finished eating everyone was absolutely stuffed.

Ruby was starting to get grumpy because she was so tired so they decided to make a move.

They said thank you and paid the bill before walking back to the car.

Ruby fell asleep on the journey home so Chris carried her up to her bedroom when they got in and Rachel followed him up.

"Do you want me to put her pyjamas on?" Chris offered

"No it's alright, I'll do it"

Rachel slipped Ruby into her pyjamas as carefully as she could and then put her on the toilet so she could have a wee before bed. Luckily Ruby barely woke up so Rachel tucked her in before going downstairs with everyone else.

"You must be tired too Ellie"

"I am a bit"

For Ellie to admit she was actually tired would mean that she was extremely tired, because normally she'd try to stay up as late as Chloe and Amy.

"Why don't you go up to bed love?"

"I think I will, night everyone"

"I'll be up to say goodnight in a bit"

Rachel left her for a few minutes to get ready for bed before going up to tuck her in. She came down about ten minutes later.

"What time are you leaving tomorrow Chloe?" Rachel asked

"I think we're catching the train at about ten"

"Where are you going tomorrow?"

"I'm going into Manchester with Tom"

"So I come home for the weekend and you don't even want to spend the day with me" Amy said but she was only joking, she didn't really mind

"Sorry but Tom wanted to take me out for the day for my Birthday"

"He sounds really nice"

"He is"

"Is it just the two of you going?"

"Yeah"

"How come you didn't invite your friends to come too"

"I thought it would be nicer just the two of us" Chloe replied "they probably wouldn't want to come anyway"

"Why?"

"I don't know, they just probably wouldn't"

"Have you fallen out with your friends or something?" Rachel asked

"No, how many times do I have to tell you" Chloe said before getting up and leaving the room

Rachel ran her fingers through her hair, and decided to get out what was bothering Chloe once and for all.

"I'm going to go up and speak to her" Rachel said after a few minutes

Rachel knocked on Chloe's door but she didn't get a response.

"Chlo, it's me can I come in?"

"No, go away" Chloe said hastily trying to wipe away her tears

"Please darling, I want to talk to you" Rachel said but Chloe didn't say anything

"I'm going to come in anyway" Rachel said before opening the door and walking in

Rachel could tell straight away that she'd been crying despite Chloe's best attempts to get rid of her tears.

"Oh Chlo you shouldn't be crying, it's your Birthday" Rachel said gently

After closing Chloe's bedroom door Rachel went and sat on the bed next to her daughter.

"Now I know there's something going on, you haven't seemed like your normal self for weeks now. So come on tell me what this is all about"

"Mum it's nothing for you to worry about"

"If there's something upsetting my daughter, then of course it's something for me to worry about. I hate seeing you like this, please just tell me what it is going on so I can help you"

"I'm just being silly, honestly I'm fine"

"As your Mum somehow I can tell when you're fine and when you're not, and I can tell that right now you're not fine"

"I'm just fed up with my friends being so horrible about Tom"

"How are they being horrible?"

"Just saying that he's not very nice and that they think I should break up with him"

"Why do they say that?"

"Apparently I never spend time with them anymore and they just don't like him. I do spend time with them, but whenever I invite them to do something with me and Tom they say no so I gave up in the end and now they never invite me out with them either"

"How come you told me you didn't fall out with your friends?"

"We haven't exactly fallen out, we're just not really talking either"

"School must be horrible for you at the minute then"

"It is"

"And that's why you cancelled your party?"

"Yeah"

"Oh love that's such a shame you were really looking forward to having one"

"Oh well there will be other times to have one"

"It seems a shame not to celebrate your Birthday with your friends though"

"I can't force them to if they don't want to"

"Did you even ask?"

"No"

"Well I tell you what I think you should do then, invite them all round here tomorrow night after you've been to Manchester for the day"

"I was hoping to sleep at Tom's house tomorrow night" Chloe said waiting for her Mum's reaction

"There's no way I'm letting you do that"

"Why not?"

"Because your 16 and you've only been together for a couple of months"

"Please"

"The answer is no Chloe, were you really expecting me to say yes?"

"No, but it was worth a try"

"It was worth a try but there's no way I'm changing my mind on this one so how about you invite your friends round for a sleepover?"

"They probably have plans by now"

"You don't know unless you try"

Chloe thought about it for a minute and realised just how much she was missing her friends so decided to try and put things right and in the end she did invite them all round.

"So is this all that's been upsetting you, are you sure there's nothing else?"

"No there's nothing else"

"Have you had a good Birthday?"

"Yeah it's been really nice, it was kind of nice not to have a party actually"

"It was certainly nicer for me"

Rachel sat and talked with Chloe for a bit longer and she was starting to feel a lot happier. A couple of her friends had replied as well saying that they wanted to come so she was starting to look forward to it now.

"I'm going back downstairs now, are you coming with me or staying up here?"

"I think I'll just stay up here"

"Okay then love, I can't believe your 16 now it only feels like two minutes ago that you were 6, and now your growing up into a lovely girl"

"Don't go all soppy on me"

"Well I do love you though"

"Love you too Mum"

"See you in the morning"

"Yeah, night"

Rachel went back downstairs and sat with Chris, Amy and Phil for a bit longer but it wasn't long before they all went up to bed too.

Amy went up to her room and changed into her pyjamas and took her makeup off before climbing into bed.

It felt so nice to be in her own bed, in her own bedroom. She went to sleep feeling really happy.

Amy woke up the next morning and went down to the kitchen to find Rachel and Ruby making a pancake mix.

"Are we having pancakes for breakfast?"

"Of course, it's Saturday" Rachel replied

Amy had missed her Mum making pancakes for breakfast every Saturday.

Amy cut up some fruit and put it in bowls in the middle of the kitchen table along with sugar, golden syrup and lemon juice.

Once Ellie, Chloe and Phil had come down too Rachel started cooking them.

Chris had left early to go and see the Rugby with his mates. He hadn't even thought about it when Amy had said she was coming home this weekend, but the tickets had been booked for ages and Amy said she didn't mind him going still.

After they'd had pancakes Rachel quickly dropped Chloe to the station before coming back again.

"Who wants to help me make a Birthday cake for Chloe?" Rachel asked

"But it was her Birthday yesterday Auntie Rachel, why are we making her a cake today?"

"Because Chloe's having her friends over for a sleepover tonight so I thought we could make her one"

"I love making cakes, can we make a chocolate one?"

"I think Chloe would like that"

Rachel, Amy and Ruby all made a cake for Chloe whilst Ellie sat at the table and did some homework.

Once it was all done and they'd had lunch the four of them went out for a walk. Phil was out with Bolton and Paul.

They had a nice bit of fresh air and after going to the café for a drink Rachel had a text from Chloe saying she'd be home in about an hour.

Rachel took the three girls to Tesco and they helped her to pick up some bits for Chloe's sleepover tonight.

"Shall I go and pick up some face masks for them Mum?" Amy suggested

"Yeah that's a good idea"

Rachel got them pizzas and garlic break, along with chocolate and ice cream and some frozen cocktails.

By the time they'd finished shopping it was time to pick Chloe up from the station.

When Chloe saw her Mum's car come she got straight in.

"Where's Tom?"

"He's already left"

"I could've given him a lift"

"He doesn't live that far from here"

"I wanted to see what he looked like" Amy said sounding disappointed

"He's coming for lunch tomorrow so you can meet him then" Rachel said

They drove home and Chloe tidied up her room a bit ready for her friends coming and got changed before going downstairs.

It wasn't long before her friends came. Chloe apologised for not spending enough time with them lately and they managed to put it behind them ready to have a good night together.

It was just Rachel, Amy, Ellie and Ruby so Rachel cooked for them and then they ate in the lounge whilst Chloe ate in the kitchen with her friends.

After they'd eaten Rachel surprised Chloe with the cake they made earlier and then they all had a slice.

Chloe ended up having a really good night with her friends, and was really pleased Rachel made her invite them round.

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	12. Chapter 12

It was a Friday after school and Rachel was waiting in the playground to pick Ruby up. She was also picking up Ruby's best friend Emily who was coming over for a sleepover tonight, something that Ruby had been extremely excited about all week.

It was a really cold and windy day so Rachel hoped they would come out soon as she wasn't having much fun stood in the playground, especially when it looked like it was going to pour down with rain any minute.

Eventually the classroom door opened up and luckily Ruby was one of the first ones to come out.

Rachel was surprised when she saw that Emily wasn't with her.

"Where's Emily?" Rachel asked as she took Ruby's book bag.

"She wasn't at school today so are we picking her up from her house instead?"

"Well if she wasn't at school she's probably poorly so I don't think she'll be coming for the sleepover anymore" Rachel said however she was a bit surprised that Jane, Emily's Mum, hadn't phoned to tell her as the two of them had become quite good friends since Ruby had moved in with Rachel

"Why?"

"Because if she's poorly she'll need to stay at home with her Mummy until she gets better"

"But I really want her to come and play with me"

"I know you do love but we'll have to arrange it for a time when she's feeling better, won't we?"

Ruby's bottom lip began to wobble before she burst into tears.

"Oh love don't cry" Rachel said as she took hold of Ruby's hand "I know you were really looking forward to Emily coming over to play but you wouldn't have very much fun when Emily's poorly would you?"

Ruby just shook her head to this but she was still really upset that Emily couldn't come.

"But we'll rearrange it for when Emily is feeling better and we'll still have fun tonight"

"I suppose so"

Rachel wiped a few stray tears off Ruby's cheeks.

"Anyway let's get back to the car, it's freezing out here"

"So what do you fancy doing tonight, I can't be bothered to cook so I'm going to ask Dad to pick up a takeaway on his way home from work"

"Please can we watch a Christmas film?"

"A Christmas film, isn't it a bit early for that?"

"No Christmas is next month, please can we?"

"I suppose so if you really want to"

The children were all really looking forward to Christmas already, but Rachel knew how much she had to do before then!

When they got back to the car Rachel strapped Ruby in before driving home.

As soon as they walked through the front door Chloe came out of the lounge.

"Mum it's so cold in here, why's the heating not on?"

"It should be on by now, let me go and check"

Rachel went to check and realised that it hadn't come on for some reason, but when she went to turn it on it wouldn't.

"Well that's bloody brilliant" Rachel said sarcastically

"What is?" Chloe said as she'd followed her Mum in

"I think the heating's broken, and it's meant to be absolutely freezing this weekend"

"It's so cold in here, can't someone come and fix it?"

"I doubt I can find anyone to do it tonight, maybe tomorrow morning but not now. It's just going to have to be hot water bottles and blankets I'm afraid, I'll light the fire now too"

Rachel quickly went upstairs and got changed out of her work clothes before coming down and lighting the fire.

She loved having an open fire, but she knew the rest of the house was going to be absolutely freezing.

"Ruby remember what I told you about not playing too closely to the fire, okay?"

"Okay Auntie Rachel"

Ruby was sat down doing some colouring so Rachel decided to give Jane a call just because she thought it was odd she hadn't phoned to let her know about Emily being poorly.

Rachel dialled their home phone number. It took Jane a while to answer but eventually she did pick up the phone.

"Hi Rachel, I'm sorry I completely forgot Emily was meant to be having a sleepover with Ruby tonight" Jane said and Rachel picked up straight away on the fact there was something wrong with her

"Is everything okay Jane?"

"Not really no"

Rachel guessed this wasn't going to be a conversation Ruby should overhear so went out into the kitchen.

"Why what's going on?"

"I don't even know how to tell you this Rach, Martin's been abusing Emily" Martin was Emily's step- Dad

Rachel was utterly shocked by this, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard and didn't know what to say.

"Oh my goodness Jane, I'm so sorry"

"How did I not realise this had been going on under my own roof Rach? Emily's been acting completely out of character recently, she hasn't been herself at all I should have picked up on the signs before" Jane said before bursting into tears

Rachel had a really long phone call with Jane and found out how Jane had noticed some unusual marks on Emily when she was having a bath last night. When Jane had asked Emily where they had come from Emily wouldn't say, but when Jane asked her if someone had touched her somewhere private other than her and her real Dad she had simply nodded. After that Jane managed to get the whole story out of Emily, how Martin had been touching her inappropriately now since the beginning of the summer holidays.

Martin had been made redundant recently so over many glasses of wine over the last few months Rachel had listened to Jane telling her about Martin taking it badly and how he had turned to drinking a lot, but never had either of them expected that he'd started doing this.

"If there's anything I can do for you, you know where I am. Just pick up the phone whenever and I'll be straight there" Rachel said however Jane was lucky that her parents lived really close and she had a very close relationship with them

Rachel came off the phone feeling quite sick at the thought of what Martin had been doing to Emily.

It also made Rachel think about Ruby, she realised she probably needed to talk to Ruby about this sort of thing because she doubted Mel ever had.

Rachel made herself a coffee before going into the lounge. Phil, Chloe, Ellie and Ruby were all in there now because it was so cold everywhere else.

"Right, we're having a takeaway for tea, what does everyone fancy?" Rachel asked

"Can we have Chinese?" Ellie asked

"Are you three happy with that as well?"

Luckily they both were and there were no arguments about what everyone wanted.

Chris was picking the Chinese up at six so Rachel decided to give Ruby a bath before he came in.

"Let's get you in the bath Ruby"

"But I'm drawing"

"You can finish it after your bath, I'll shout to you when it's ready"

Rachel went upstairs and started running a bath for Ruby. She thought now would be a good time to have a chat with Ruby. She wasn't going to mention anything about abuse or what had happened to Emily but she did just want to talk to her about her private parts.

"Ruby your bath's run" Rachel shouted, she listened and soon heard Ruby coming up the stairs

Rachel helped her get undressed and got her into the bath before letting her have a bit of a play.

"Ruby there's something I want to have a little chat about" Rachel said, she was a bit nervous about this and unsure of what to actually say

"About what?"

"Well I know it sounds a bit funny, but I want to talk about pants" Rachel said making Ruby burst out laughing "because it's very important that you understand that any part of your body that's covered by your underwear is private and so you shouldn't let anyone else see it"

"But you see when I have a bath"

"It's fine if I see or Amy or Chloe or Ellie or Uncle Chris but you shouldn't let anyone else see it because it's very private and it belongs to you. So if anyone else did try to see or try to touch you underneath your underwear you must say no and come and tell me about it, okay?"

"Okay"

Rachel didn't want to keep talking about it for too long. She felt like Ruby had listened to what she had just said though and she was just going to try and bringing it up subtly every so often. She didn't want Ruby to ever have to go through what Emily had been though.

"So have you decided what Christmas film you want to watch tonight?"

"Can we watch the one where the little girl doesn't believe in Father Christmas because her Mummy told her he didn't exist, but then in the end they both find out he is real really"

"Do you mean Miracle on 34th Street?"

"Yes that one"

"That sounds like a good choice to me"

Rachel washed Ruby's hair before getting out and wrapping a fluffy towel around her. She got her dried off and into her pyjamas as quickly as she could because it was so cold.

Once she'd dried Ruby's hair they both went back downstairs and into the lounge.

Rachel saw the time and decided to order the Chinese, thinking the timing would be about right.

When Chris came in with the food Rachel got it all out on the kitchen table like she normally did and then called everyone out to help themselves.

Everyone dished out as quickly as they could because it was so cold out there.

"Are we eating in the lounge tonight?" Chloe asked

"Yes I reckon so, Ruby's chosen a film for us to watch as well"

"What've you chosen Ruby?"

"Miracle on 34th street" she told them

Chloe and Ellie were both happy about watching a Christmas film.

It had been a long week and everyone was really tired so it was nice to just have a relaxing Friday night in.

Once they'd all finished their food Rachel took the plates out to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher before pouring a glass of wine for her and Chris.

Ruby was really enjoying watching the film so Rachel let her stay up until it had finished. As soon as it finished though Rachel took her straight up to bed.

"You go and clean your teeth and I'll fill you up a hot water bottle"

By the time Rachel came upstairs Ruby was already in bed but she had the covers pulled right up over her head.

"What are you doing under there missus?"

"It's cold"

"I know that's why I've got you a hot water bottle"

Rachel gave Ruby the hot water bottle and then got her tucked in so she was all cosy.

She stayed with her for a bit just like she always did and then went downstairs once Ruby was nearly asleep.

The others all had I'm a Celebrity on so Rachel sat down on the sofa next to Chris and snuggled up to him.

Once I'm a Celebrity had finished Chloe, Ellie and Phil all decided to go up to bed as well.

Rachel went out to the kitchen with the girls as they both wanted hot water bottles filling up.

Once Rachel had said goodnight to Phil and the girls she came downstairs and talked to Chris for a bit and told him about everything that had happened with Emily. Rachel couldn't seem to get it out of her mind, it really was such a terrible thing to happen.

It wasn't that long before Rachel and Chris decided to go up to bed as well because they were both quite tired.

Rachel got into bed and it didn't take her long to fall asleep.

Ellie woke up in the middle of the night feeling absolutely freezing so she decided to refill her hot water bottle as it wasn't hot anymore.

She reluctantly got out from under the covers and went down into the kitchen and boiled the kettle. Normally Rachel would fill it up but she didn't want to wake her.

Once the kettle had boiled Ellie lifted it up and started pouring however the lid wasn't on properly so the boiling water ended up going all down Ellie's legs.

Ellie screamed out in pain and dropped the kettle.

Rachel heard it and immediately woke up. She wondered what had happened so came downstairs straight away followed by Chris.

She walked into the kitchen to find Ellie crouched down on the floor in tears.

"What's happened?"

"I've burnt my legs" Ellie sobbed

"Oh my god, get those pyjama bottoms off" Rachel said helping her to stand up

"But Dad's there"

"I'll stand in front so he can't see"

Ellie took her pyjama bottoms off.

"Chris I can manage, you go back to bed"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah"

Rachel thought it was best to get Ellie in the shower so she could run cold water over her legs.

"Right upstairs to the bathroom now"

Ellie and Rachel went up as quickly as they could and Rachel turned the shower on.

They stood there for ten minutes, Ellie was still crying but mainly from the shock now.

"How are they feeling now?"

"Freezing"

"Are they sore?"

"Yeah really sore"

Rachel passed her a towel.

"You dry your legs off, I'll go and find some cream"

Rachel went and found some cream for burns in the first aid box and a fresh pair of pyjama bottoms before coming back to the bathroom and putting it on her legs. She'd mainly burnt the top of them.

Once Ellie was sorted Rachel put her back into bed.

"How did you manage to pour boiling water down your legs anyway?"

"I was filling up my hot water bottle but I don't think the lid was on properly"

"What've I told you before about letting me fill it up for you?"

"I know but I didn't want to wake you up"

"Well next time please do, I don't want any more incidents like this thank you very much"

"Don't worry I will"

"Hopefully your legs won't be feeling so sore in the morning"

"I hope not, and hopefully not so cold either. When's the heating being fixed?"

"We've got a plumber coming early tomorrow morning, so you never know it may even be fixed before you wake up if you're planning on having another lie in like you did last Saturday"

"I need to wake up early tomorrow because I need to get my homework done before Sophie's party tomorrow"

"Oh yeah I'd forgotten about that, what are you doing again?"

"Going ice skating at 2 and then we're going to Sophie's house for a sleepover afterwards"

"I told Ruby we could go swimming tomorrow afternoon so I'll drop you off and then we can go"

"Are you going to that swimming pool we went to last time with all the really cool slides?"

"Yes I think so"

"I wish I could come, it was really fun last time"

"You can'd do everything, and we can't go on Sunday because we've got Grandma and Grandad coming over for a roast. Anyway I think it's time me to go back to bed"

"Night Mum"

"Night love"

Rachel went back to bed and luckily slept right through until the morning this time.

For once she'd woken up without being woken up by Ruby. Unfortunately though she couldn't lie in bed in peace for a bit as she plumber was coming so she needed to get in the shower.

She was glad the heating was being fixed today as it was absolutely freezing in the house and not very nice at all when it was so cold outside.

Rachel got in the shower, making the most of being warm.

She'd been in there for a while so realised she probably should get out. Just as she was about to turn the shower off the door opened and Ruby walked in.

"Auntie Rachel I came in for a cuddle but you weren't in bed"

"That's because I'm in the shower"

"But you're always there when I come in on a Saturday morning normally because we have a really long cuddle"

"I know but someone's coming to fix the heating so I needed to be up and dressed for when he comes. You get back into bed and I'll be out in a minute to give you a cuddle"

Once Ruby had gone out Rachel turned the shower off and quickly grabbed a towel to wrap around her.

Once she'd dried off and cleaned her teeth she climbed into bed next to Ruby to give her a cuddle.

Chris wasn't in bed anymore either.

Rachel was still giving Ruby a cuddle when Chris appeared carrying a tray with breakfast on. He'd made crumpets for the three of them, as he knew Ruby was in their room too, and a coffee for him and Rachel.

"Wow, look at this Ruby breakfast in bed, aren't we lucky?"

"I love it when we have breakfast in bed"

Chris got in next to them and they started eating.

"Are you still going to make pancakes Auntie Rachel?" Ruby asked after she'd finished her crumpet and had jam around her face

"If you want me to. Hold still a second I need to wipe your face"

Rachel was impressed that Chris had remembered to bring up a few pieces of kitchen roll on the tray.

"It's not like you to remember things like this" Rachel said as she wiped Ruby's face

"Well I know how messy Ruby can get and I knew you'd never forgive me if she got jam all over the bed"

"Thank you for doing this, it was a lovely idea" Rachel said reaching over Ruby and giving Chris a kiss

Rachel got out of bed and got ready just in time for when the plumber came.

Luckily there wasn't anything too wrong with the heating so it didn't take long to be fixd, much to everyone's relief.

They all had a lazy morning around the house and before long it was time to drop Ellie off for her party and take Ruby swimming. Even Chloe had agreed to come swimming on a busy Saturday afternoon.

They did have fun at the swimming pool but it was really nice for everyone to come home to a warm and cosy house.


	13. Chapter 13

Rachel was up early on a Saturday morning to try and get on with some work as she knew she wasn't going to have a lot of time over the weekend with having Emily to stay and also having Kim and Andrew over for dinner tonight.

She was sat at her desk in the study when she heard the door open.

"Morning love" Rachel said when she saw Ruby stood at the door

Ruby was really sleepy just like she always was when she first woke up so didn't say anything but went and sat on Rachel's knee and cuddled into her.

"Auntie Rachel I'm hungry" Ruby said after a few minutes

"Can you ask Uncle Chris to make you some?"

"He's sleeping, I already tried to wake him up to ask him where you were but he wouldn't wake up"

"Okay then love, but I haven't got time to make you pancakes this morning because I need to get on with some work"

Rachel brought her laptop out to the kitchen and then made Ruby some Weetabix before carrying on with her work again whilst Ruby ate.

"What time is Emily coming?"

"Her Mum's dropping her off at about ten, so I need to jump in the shower soon" Rachel said as she was still in her pyjamas and dressing gown

"Can we go swimming?" Ruby asked excitedly

Swimming really was the last place Rachel fancied being on a Saturday afternoon. Normally she didn't mind but today she just couldn't think she could face it for some reason.

"We could do, or we could go to the park instead and we can take some bread to feed the ducks"

"We haven't done that for ages"

Rachel was glad Ruby hadn't taken much persuasion to do something different.

"Well we'll have to check that Emily wants to do that too first" Rachel said however Emily was really easy going and Rachel was sure she'd be just as excited as what Ruby was about doing it

Once Ruby had finished her breakfast the two of them both went upstairs and Rachel got straight in the shower.

Once she was out she got dressed and dried her hair before getting Ruby dressed.

Rachel had literally just finished helping Ruby when the doorbell rang.

By the time Rachel got downstairs Chloe had answered the door and let Emily and Jane in.

"Hi Rachel, are you sure you don't mind having Emily?"

"Of course not she's never any trouble"

Ruby and Emily both went upstairs straight away so Jane and Rachel went into the kitchen to have a coffee.

"How's Emily doing?"

"Not too bad. Most of the time she's back to her normal self but she does still get scared and upset sometimes, especially around men"

"That's understandable I suppose. She's so young though she might not even remember it as she gets older"

"That would be good"

Jane stayed and talked to Rachel for a bit longer. She was having a really hard time at the minute so was glad her Mum was taking her away.

"Emily, Mummy's going to leave now are you going to come down and say goodbye?"

Emily and Ruby both came rushing downstairs both laughing which was nice for Jane to see.

Once they'd said goodbye Jane left.

"Right girls, do you want to just play around here this morning and then this afternoon I'll take you to the park?"

"And we're going to feed the ducks" Ruby told Emily

Emily was happy with this so Rachel went to find out who else wanted to come.

Much to her surprise Chloe and Ellie both wanted to come too. She'd been expecting them to both want to stay in. Phil was going out with his mates later though.

After having a lazy morning around the house, meaning Rachel managed to get quite a lot of her work done, Rachel rounded all the kids up to get going.

"Are you not going to put any makeup on Mum?" Chloe asked surprised that her Mum was going out without any on

Rachel glanced in the mirror and saw she didn't have any on, she'd completely forgotten.

"Do you know what I'd completely forgotten I hadn't done my makeup, give me ten minutes" Rachel said before running upstairs

Once she had her makeup done Rachel took the four of them to the park.

Chris said he'd do the shopping for Rachel which she was glad about, so he wasn't coming with them.

When they got to the park they had a little walk around and fed the ducks and then Ruby and Emily both wanted to play for a bit.

"I'm going to go and get a coffee from the café, do you girls want anything?"

"Can I have a coffee too please Mum?"

"Yep, Ellie?"

"Can I have a hot chocolate please?"

"I would think so, can you keep an eye on Ruby and Emily for me?"

"We will"

Rachel went and got the drinks and then came back to the bench that Chloe and Ellie were sat on.

They'd been playing for quite a while when Rachel noticed Emily crouching down on the floor so wondered what had happened. She decided to go in and check she was okay.

"Emily are you okay?"

"I really need a wee"

"Let's go to the toilets then"

"But I'm bursting"

"We'd better run then"

Rachel took hold of Emily and Ruby's hand before taking them both to the loo. Luckily Emily just made it.

Once they'd both been they headed back to Chloe and Ellie.

"I think it's time we made a move"

"Can we stay for a bit longer?" Ruby asked

"Five more minutes, but then we need to go because I've got lots to do when we get back"

Rachel ended up giving them another ten minutes but then she went and got them so they all went back to the car.

They headed home and Chloe and Ellie both went up to their rooms, and Ruby and Emily went to the play room.

Rachel decided to start preparing for tonight. She was really looking forward to having Kim and Andrew over for dinner, it felt like it had been ages since she'd done anything with Kim outside of school.

After a few hours Rachel was feeling quite organised but realised she'd completely forgotten about the kids tea but luckily she had some pizzas in the fridge so she quickly put them in.

Once it was ready she shouted them all down.

"Mum please can I sleep round Leah's house tonight?"

"Yeah okay, Chris can you drop her over please?"

"Yes of course darling"

Once they'd finished eating Rachel took Ruby and Emily upstairs and got them in the bath. The two of them loved having a bath together.

"I'm just going to quickly get Emily's bed ready, so no messing about while I'm gone"

Rachel went and set Emily's bed up before coming back to the bathroom where Ruby and Emily were splashing about.

"Right let's get your hair washed"

They both had their hair washed without any fuss so once that was done Rachel got them out and wrapped them in towels.

"Go and get into your pyjamas, I've put them both on the radiator, and then come into my bedroom so I can dry your hair off"

Rachel let the bath water out before going into her bedroom.

The girls eventually came in so Rachel could dry their hair.

"Do you want to watch a DVD for a bit before you go to sleep?"

"Do you want to watch Frozen Emily?" Ruby asked

"Yeah" Emily said excitedly

Rachel put the film on for them in the play room whilst she went and got ready.

She took off her makeup and had a quick shower but didn't bother to wash her hair again.

Once she was out of the shower she got dressed and then did her makeup and straightened her hair again before putting Ruby and Emily to bed.

She said goodnight but knew she'd have to come back, knowing what they were like she knew they'd be chatting away for half the night otherwise.

Rachel then went downstairs and finished preparing for when Kim and Andrew arrived.

Chris had just finished getting changed himself when the doorbell rang so he went and let Kim and Andrew in.

Rachel poured them all a glass of wine and then they sat and chatted for a bit.

"I just need to check on Ruby, I'll only be a sec"

Much to Rachel's surprise when she went up she found them both fast asleep. Something she definitely wasn't expecting but it had been quite a while since she'd put them to bed and they were both really tired.

Now she knew they were asleep Rachel could enjoy her evening properly.

They were sat at the table eating their main course when Ruby appeared at the door.

"You can come in love" Rachel said smiling "what are you doing out of bed?"

"I came to tell you that Emily's crying"

"Oh dear I'd better come and see what's wrong"

Rachel went upstairs with Ruby and found Emily sat up in bed sobbing.

"Do you want to come with me for a little chat Emily?" Rachel said gently

Emily nodded so Rachel took hold of her little hand and took her into her bedroom.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Rachel asked and Emily just buried her head into Rachel's chest

"Okay, well how about we just have a little cuddle until you're ready to talk"

Rachel was rubbing Emily's back while she cried. Emily came round lots so felt quite comfortable around Rachel now.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Rachel asked after a couple of minutes

"I had a bad dream"

"What was your dream about?"

"It was about Martin"

Rachel was about to respond when she saw Ruby stood at the door.

"Ruby go back to bed love, Emily will be back in soon"

Ruby left so Rachel turned her attention back to Emily.

"What was Martin doing?"

"He was trying to get me but Mummy was there too but then I woke up before anything else happened"

"Oh Em, dreams can be horrible sometimes can't they but what you've got to remember is that it is only a dream and Martin is never going to come anywhere near you or hurt you again"

"I was scared"

"I know you were, but you're completely safe now I promise" Rachel said running her fingers through Emily's hair

After a while Rachel had manged to calm Emily down so got her back into bed and stayed there until Ruby and Emily both went back to sleep.

Rachel was on her way back downstairs when she passed Ellie's bedroom and saw her daughter lying on her bed clutching so her stomach so she went in.

"Are you alright love?"

"No my stomach is really hurting" Ellie said nearly in tears

"Are you on your period?" Rachel asked and Ellie just nodded

"When did that start?"

"Just now"

"It always makes you feel pretty rubbish when you first come on, but you should be fine in a day or so. Shall I go down and fill you up a hot water bottle?"

Ellie shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Dad and Kim and Andrew are down there and then they'll know"

"They won't think anything of it love, I'll get you one I always find it helps"

Rachel went down and filled a hot water bottle up for her before bringing back upstairs for Ellie.

"Thanks Mum" Ellie said as she placed it against her stomach

"That's alright, if you can't get to sleep because of it come and tell me and I'll give you some paracetamol"

"Okay thank you"

"Are you happy up here or do you want to watch TV in the lounge?"

"I'm happy up here"

"Okay well if you want anything don't be afraid to come down"

Rachel left her to it and went back to her guests.

"Sorry I was so long"

Rachel's meal had gone cold by now but she'd nearly finished anyway.

Rachel and Chris both really enjoyed their evening with Kim and Andrew.

It was really late by the time they left so Rachel and Chris did a bit of tidying up but decided to do the rest in the morning.

Rachel had had a really nice day and was looking forward to spending another day with the kids tomorrow, and she was really looking forward to Amy coming home for Christmas.


	14. Chapter 14

Amy had been home from Uni for Christmas for a few days and she was loving being at home again. As much as she was enjoying Uni, she really was glad to be home for Christmas.

Rachel had been running around for her ever since she got back and she was getting used to living at home again and loving it!

After having a nice lie in Amy decided to get up and have a shower. She was the only one in the house because everyone else was at school and work.

Once Amy was ready she went down and had some breakfast before getting on with the baking she needed to do.

It was Ruby's Christmas party at school tomorrow and Amy had told Rachel she'd make some Christmas buns for her to take in.

Amy had a lot on her mind at the minute so it was nice to have something to try and distract her.

Once the buns were out of the oven Amy went and caught up on some TV whilst they were cooling down.

She decided to put Coronation Street on as she was quite far behind and wanted to be able to watch all the soaps over Christmas.

While Amy sat there though she couldn't help but worry about thing that was constantly playing on her mind at the moment.

It had been nearly two months since Amy's last period and so now she couldn't help but worry that she was pregnant.

This was something that had been putting playing on her mind for about a month now but she just kept brushing it aside.

Amy had had a couple of one night stands whilst being at Uni, and although she had been careful both times she still couldn't help but worry because she knew it was still possible to get pregnant.

Amy was beginning to think maybe she should just go out and buy a test to find out, but she was so scared of what the result was going to be. She couldn't even begin to imagine what she would do if she actually was pregnant.

She hadn't told anyone about this, not even any of her friends as that would make it seem even more real. Amy hadn't been expecting to be in the situation of having a pregnancy scare at University.

Once Amy had eaten her lunch, well half of it anyway she really was struggling to eat at the minute, she realised she needed to find out once and for all.

Her friends were meant to be coming over tonight and they were going to have a few drinks, and Amy realised that if she was pregnant she really need to stop drinking because she wouldn't want to harm the baby.

Amy quickly put on some makeup and tied her hair up before nipping to Tesco, she really hoped she wouldn't see anyone she knew!

After picking up some pizzas so that she could hide the test under them, she went to the isle and quickly bought a test. Luckily it was quite quiet and there was no-one else in the isle at the time so she picked it up as quickly as she could and hid it.

Amy did the self-service as there was no way she could face a shop assistant seeing what she was buying.

All the way back in the car Amy was planning on doing the test as soon as she got in, but once she was in her bathroom she couldn't bring herself to do it so just put it away in her cupboard.

Amy sighed before going downstairs and decorating the buns for Ruby.

The more she thought about it, the more she was convincing herself she really was pregnant which was making it harder for her to take the test because she just couldn't face seeing a positive result.

By the time Rachel had returned home with the kids Amy still hadn't taken the test.

"Go and get changed out of your school uniform, and then I'll get it straight in the wash" Rachel told them all as they all had a non-school uniform day tomorrow because it was the last day of term.

Rachel made her way into the kitchen where Amy was unpacking the dishwasher.

"Hi love, how's your day been?"

"Good thanks" Amy replied smiling at her Mum

"The buns look really good darling, thanks for doing that for me"

"That's ok"

"You okay Aims? You seem a bit down"

"I'm not feeling too well actually"

"Oh really that's not good"

"No I'm thinking about telling my friends not to come over tonight I'm going to see how I'm feeling in an hour or so" Amy said as she really didn't feel like entertaining her friends when she had all of this on her mind

"That's a shame, you've been really looking forward to having the girls over"

"I know but there's no point if I'm not feeling right"

"I suppose not" Rachel said but she wasn't sure she was getting the whole truth from Amy, normally Amy would have to be extremely ill to stop her doing something and she didn't seem that poorly

Rachel went upstairs to get changed out of her work clothes and then she went into Amy's room to put away some toiletries and things as she'd picked her up some bits from Tesco today.

When Rachel opened up Amy's bathroom cupboard she was extremely shocked when she noticed a pregnancy test in there and called her daughter through immediately.

"What are you shouting for Mum?" Amy asked as she came into her bedroom

Rachel held out the pregnancy test for Amy to see and her face dropped.

"Care to explain?"

Amy didn't say anything but just burst into tears.

Rachel closed Amy's bedroom door before sitting her daughter down on the bed.

"Do you think you could be pregnant?"

Amy nodded her head.

"You stupid girl, how many times have we talked about being safe and careful?"

"I was Mum but my periods nearly two months late"

Rachel took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, realising Amy was 18 now and if she had been careful she really didn't deserve to be yelled at.

"So I take it you've had sex since being at Uni then?"

"Yes"

"How many times?"

"Twice"

"And you used contraception both times?"

"Yes I promise I did Mum, please believe me"

"I believe you darling, I'm sorry for shouting I was just shocked that's all"

"I'm scared Mum"

"I can imagine how you must be feeling" Rachel said going and sitting down next to Amy to try and comfort her "but come on you'd just as well get it over with. At least then we'll know one way or another"

"But what if I am pregnant Mum?"

"We don't even need to think about that until we know that you definitely are pregnant. Go on, do the test sweetheart"

Amy picked up the test and went into her en suite. She took it before bringing it back out to her Mum.

Once the time was up she couldn't bring herself to look at it, so she passed it to Rachel.

Rachel took a deep breath before turning the test over to reveal a negative result.

"It's negative" Rachel said letting out a huge sigh of relief

"Seriously?" Amy asked taking the test out of her Mum's hand

Relief flooded through Amy, she had absolutely convinced herself she was pregnant. She was so happy not to be pregnant.

"I wish I'd done a test sooner now, rather than spending all this time worrying about it"

"You should've talked to me about it sooner love, rather than bottling up for all this time"

"I didn't want to disappoint you"

"You haven't disappointed me although I can't say I'm particularly keen on you sleeping around"

"I'm hardly sleeping around Mum, I've had two one night stands at Uni it's hardly uncommon"

"I know but still it's not a particularly nice thing to do is hmm?"

"No I felt horrible after it both times, but at the time I was drunk and well you know sometimes these things just happen"

"I know they do, I have been there. I'm not lecturing you I just don't want you doing things you're going to regret"

"It had happened for ages now"

"Good, but Amy please remember that even though you've moved out to go to University now you're always going to be my little girl and I'm always going to be here for you so you can always come to me with a problem"

"I will next time"

"Good girl"

"Thanks love, anyway I take it your friends will still be coming over now then?"

"Yeah, I bought some pizzas when I was in Tesco so we'll have them"

"Ok love, I picked you up some prosecco in Tesco"

"Thanks Mum"

Rachel stayed and chatted to Amy for a bit before going to get the school uniform.

When she walked into Ruby's room she found her fast asleep on her bed. She was only half changed too.

Rachel decided to get her straight into her pyjamas so got her a clean pair out of her drawer.

When Rachel was putting them on Ruby she stated to stir.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"Yes love I think you did, how come you're so tired?"

"I don't know"

"You're not feeling poorly are you?" Rachel asked and Ruby shook her head

Rachel thought it was probably just because it was the end of term, they'd had a lot going on in the last few weeks with the build up to Christmas as well.

Once Ruby was in her pyjamas Rachel gave her a little cuddle and fell back to sleep again.

Normally Rachel would've woken her because else it would be hard to get her off in the evening but she decided to let her sleep for half an hour today considering she was so tired.

Once Rachel had got everyone's school uniform together she put a load of washing on before putting the jacket potatoes that they were having for tea in the oven.

Amy was feeling so relieved knowing she wasn't pregnant and was now really looking forward to a night in with her friends.

Amy's best friend was coming over a bit earlier so Amy was still getting ready when she came.

Amy had missed Molly so much whilst she'd been away and since they'd both got back from Uni they'd been spending so much time together.

Once Amy had finished her makeup the two of them went down into the kitchen.

Everyone else was just finishing their tea.

"We'll be out of your hair in a minute girls"

"It's okay" Amy said

Once everyone had finished Rachel and Chris cleared away and then Rachel sat and talked with Amy and Molly for a bit.

Molly used to be over their house all the time so she knew the girl quite well, so it was nice catching up on how she was getting on at Uni.

"How long before everyone else is coming?" Rachel asked

"Not long now, ten minutes or so"

"Do you want me to put your pizzas in then?"

"Yes please if you don't mind"

It wasn't long before the rest of Amy's friends arrived so Rachel poured them all a glass of prosecco.

Rachel stayed in the kitchen for a bit longer but once she'd taken the pizzas out and cut them she decided to leave them to it and went to put Ruby to bed.

"Shall we just leave your bath for tonight love? Get you straight into bed"

Rachel thought this was the best idea as Ruby had been really tired all evening and hadn't woken up properly after her little nap.

Normally Ruby loved her bath but she didn't put up any protest tonight and just brushed her teeth and went to the loo before getting straight into bed.

Rachel sat with her for a bit once she was in bed but Ruby fell asleep pretty much straight away.

Ellie and Chloe had a Christmas film on in the playroom so Rachel sat with them for a bit before going back downstairs to get a glass of wine for her and Chris.

When she went in it was obvious the girls were getting quite tipsy.

The girls insisted she stayed and talked to them for a bit longer so she did before going into the lounge and watching some TV with Chris.

It made Rachel smile hearing Amy sound so happy with all of her friends.

Rachel went out to the kitchen an hour later to top up their wine glasses and when she went out there Molly was in floods of tears.

"Is she okay?" Rachel asked

"She's just had too much to drink" Amy told her Mum

"I can see" Rachel said laughing "why's she crying?"

"Because apparently she misses us too much at Uni so she doesn't want to go back next term"

"I just wish we were still doing A levels, I know they were horrible but I liked being with all of you and I liked coming here"

Molly really was in quite a state so Rachel went over.

"I miss you as well Rachel, I used to love coming here"

"I miss you too Mols"

"You're the best Mum ever, when I have children I want to be exactly the type of Mum that you are because you're the best" Molly sobbed

"Thank you Molly. I'm sure you're going to make an amazing Mum"

"I just miss everyone so much, the people at Uni are nice but they're just not special. They're never going to beat all of my friends here"

"But you still have a good time at Uni"

"But it's not the same"

"Oh Molly" Rachel said before coming around and giving her a hug "once you get back there it will all be okay, and then before you know it you'll all be back here for Easter and then the summer"

Luckily after Rachel stayed there for a bit longer Molly did calm down and was laughing in the end so the girls could enjoy the rest of the evening and have a good time together.

Once Rachel and Chris wen up to bed the girls moved into the lounge and continued to chat. They were still quite tipsy, well Molly was still very drunk, but they'd stopped drinking now.

Once Rachel had taken her makeup off and changed into her pyjamas she went into check on Ruby who was sat up in bed but looking very confused.

"You okay love?"

"Is it time to go to school now?"

"No not yet it's the middle of the night still"

"But you told me to get changed into my school uniform"

"No I didn't sweetheart"

"Yes you did"

"I think you must have been dreaming, anyway lie back down and go to sleep again"

Ruby did just that so Rachel came over and started to stroke her hair.

"Auntie Rachel I'm not tired anymore"

"I'm sure you must be, you've been absolutely shattered all night and you've only been to sleep for a few hours so you still need more"

"But I can't get to sleep now"

"Just try"

Rachel sat with her for a bit longer but then went to get up.

"Don't go" Ruby mumbled

"I want to get to bed myself Ruby, you'll be asleep in a minute"

"Just stay for a bit longer"

"Okay, five more minutes but I want you to try really hard to go to sleep for me okay?"

"I'll try"

Rachel ended up staying for another ten minutes but Ruby still hadn't gone back to sleep.

"I'll see you in the morning Ruby" Rachel said, she knew she was still awake as Ruby had tried to stop her leaving again when she got up

"But I can't sleep"

"I'm sure if you try really hard, you'll be able to once I've gone but I'm really tired so I do want to go to sleep"

"Okay, night Auntie Rachel"

Rachel left to get into bed and fell asleep quite quickly for her.

Ruby stayed lying in bed but she really didn't seem to be able to sleep.

Tears started forming in her eyes because she hated it when everyone else was in bed and she couldn't get to sleep.

She wanted to get Rachel but didn't want her to be annoyed, because Rachel had told her to go to sleep but she hasn't.

In the end Ruby decided to go in and see her Auntie.

Ruby tiptoed in until she was next to Rachel.

"Auntie Rachel"

"Oh Ruby why on earth aren't you asleep?" Rachel said as she stirred, she hadn't meant to sound so harsh but she was just really tired

"It doesn't matter I'll go back to bed" Ruby said before running back to her bedroom with tears rolling down her face

Rachel felt bad so got out of bed immediately and followed her in.

When she did she found Ruby crying.

"Oh love don't cry, I didn't mean to make you upset"

"I've tried really hard but I still can't get to sleep"

"Okay I'll lie with you for a bit longer, just try not to think about it and you'll drop off eventually"

After Rachel lying with her for a bit longer Ruby did drop off to sleep so Rachel carefully climbed out of bed and went back to her own before falling asleep again.

Molly woke up the next morning and started to remember bits of last night.

"I'm so sorry about last night guys" Molly said once the others were all awake

"It's fine Molly, you were really funny"

"I dread to think what your Mum must be thinking of me now"

"She won't care, she's seen me in a much worse state than what you were. She'll probably find it funny more than anything"

In the end they all had a good laugh about it so Molly wasn't feeling quite so bad.


End file.
